Ruffled tiered skirt...LOVE IT!

So I have this friend LACI. She is an absolute doll! She is so creative and bold and just plain cute! Her daughters are always dressed so dang stylish with the fun bright trends and she just has that eye for style. If you live in Utah then you have to check out her photog blog she is AMAZING and just different from the rest.

So anyways the other day we were going to let our girls play and we decided that while they were playing we should make a skirt. She had this AWESOME leopard print fabric that used to be her dining room kitchen curtains!!!! and then an example of a skirt that she already had. So we studied the skirt and then went to work! Needless to say it took me WAAAYYYY to long to sew and figure out, but I guess that's what happens when you have 6 kids running around and a brand new skirt idea with no pattern.(sorry Laci!!!) But I LOVE IT!! It just lays so cute and it is just so much fun!This is the outfit that we put together, I can't wait to see how Laci dressed it up! She is so good at that!!

I wish so bad that I would have taken pics along the way. But I didn't think of it at the time. So I will do the best to explain, it really is pretty simple. email me if you have any questions.

**First pick your fabric. The fabric we used was like a thin sheer almost a chiffon type. I am sure cotton would work, I am curious to try it. The only problem I can think of is it

might wrinkle a ton and it might be hard to iron out these ruffles, what do you guys think???

** Next cut a rectangle. For about a size 5 we used a 12X40 inch rectangle. I would say that this size would fit anywhere from a 3t-6 and you would just adjust the elastic. But my daughter wears a size 5 and these are the measurements that we used so you can adjust accordingly.

**Next cut your strips for the ruffles. We did 7 1/2X60 and you cut 5 of these. For 5 tiers.

**Next I took the rectangle and sewed the two 12 inch wrong sides together. On the bottom of the skirt I did a finished hem. I fold and iron a half inch and then fold and iron another half inch and use a basic stitch to stitch it into place.

**for this skirt I used a thin elastic and I don't know why, it really doesn't matter. But I liked the look of it. On the top edge of the skirt sew a band. Again I fold and iron about a half inch over and then fold and iron again the width of the elastic that you use. Then I stitch around the band. Remember to leave about an inch opening to thread your elastic through. (but don't thread the elastic until the very end)

**Now for the ruffles. I tried to take pictures using just a piece of fabric to show you. So, you take your fabric and fold it lengthwise in half with wrong sides together. Like the pic.

** Then you fold about a half inch over and do a gathering stitch all across the top. We had a hard time using the basic straight gathering stitch because of the thickness so we ended up doing a large zigzag stitch. You could iron this half inch if you didn't feel comfortable just eyeing it but I just eye balled it and it seems like that would go a lot faster.

** After you have all 5 of the ruffles sewn with a gathering stitch you gather the 5 ruffles. You want to ruffle the ruffles to be 40 inches long. The whole cuteness of the original skirt we were copying was that the ruffles were not hugely ruffled. That is why we chose the length of 60 inches. If you want it more ruffly cut and gather your strips longer.


** Then you are going to start sewing the ruffles right on to the skirt. I sewed the first ruffle right under the bottom of the band and then each additional ruffle was sewn on 2 inches from the ruffle above it. A trick my ma taught me so that I didn't have to measure and pin every time was to get an index card and measure it to the length that you want and then use it as a guide while you are sewing. So I just kept my card right up to the top ruffle and then sewed the next ruffle on next to the card so that I knew it was even all the way around.


** After you get your ruffles on you are ready for your elastic. I suppose everyone is different with their elastics and how they do it! This is what I did though. My daughters waist is 22 inches so I cut my elastic to 19 inches. I don't know why but this size just seems to fit her. You can always cut and adjust your elastic if it is too big so you will have to play with it and see what works for you. I think the general rule of thumb is to take one inch off the measured waist but that always seems too big for my honey. Ok now it's time to thread your elastic, I always use a safety pin on one end and then just guide it through. When you reach the end you sew your two elastic ends together and sew your band closed and WALA! You have made the cutest frilliest little girl skirt ever! I LOVE this skirt I am totally thinking that I am going to make my girls pastel ones for their Easter clothes!! Thanks Laci, great idea! We'd love to see pics if you give this a try!

PS don't forget about the giveaway, it ends next Wednesday. Either follow the blog to enter or check out the post and follow those directions for more entries!