A Good Outlet

Steve was gone a couple of weeks ago. He went to Washington to see his family. While I was fine with him taking a break and visiting his parents, I was a little jealous that he got to enjoy the cool weather for a couple days. Not only was I jealous, I was a little anxious. I don't do well when we are apart overnight. I hear every single noise, can't sleep very well and end up being a walking zombie. I decided that instead of me obsessing about him being gone, I needed to find a project to work on. I have been wanting to make one of these pettiskirts for Clara for quite a while, but have been a little apprehensive about starting. A few days before he left I started researching them again and decided it would be the perfect project to work on the nights he was gone.

I started out watching a clip from Martha Stewart, but she did nothing but confuse me. I kept browsing the Internet and came across many blogs of ladies who made them and others who had tried but given up. Finally I found a PDF pattern to download. From the reviews it sounded like it was perfect. It had pictures for each step and it was very detailed.

I started the project on a Saturday night and thought it would take a couple hours - wrong! I was right about it being something to distract me, it was very time consuming! I was able to work on it while the kids were asleep and it kept my mind off of being alone in the middle of the night.

I was hoping to finish it by the time Steve got home, but it took about a week to complete. Midway through the sewing I started getting angry and frustrated. For sure this was the stupidest project I had ever started and there was no way I was ever going to make another one - yet finish this one!

Then the clouds parted and I finished the first layer. I had figured out some tricks and some ways to make the sewing go faster. The second layer went really fast and I was able to finish it. As soon as it was complete I was in love with it and was already making plans for my next one.

If by chance you found my blog by searching pettiskirt tutorial here are a few tips. I was so happy to find tips on other blogs - they really helped.

1. Buy a pattern with pictures. The one I have linked is great, and I know there are other ones out there.

2. Make sure you use Nylon Chiffon Tricot. It will not unravel when you cut it.

3. Change your sewing needle to a very fine needle.

4. Instead of starting from the top and working down, start from the bottom and work up. It is so much easier to sew the ruffle fluff on a piece of straight fabric instead of a piece of ruffled fabric.

5. You can buy the fabric already cut on this website. When I make Clara's Halloween skirt, I am going to buy it here. I bought mine at a local store (for those who are local, go to Heddies). The chiffon being precut into the size strips you need will save you a ton of work.

6. There is no need to gather a really really really long strip of chiffon for the fluff. I cut the strips into 60 inch increments and then ruffled those while sitting in front of the TV. I brought each 60 inch strip down to 8-10 inches. When you sew them on the skirt just overlap them a little. No one will ever know.

7. These skirts leave a lot of room for error. There is so much fluff and so many layers that nobody is going to see an uneven seam. I started out the first layer by overlocking everything, but it is not necessary. I didn't overlock the second layer and I think it turned out even better.

Now for the unbelievable stats: This skirt was made using 7 (60 inch width) yards of chiffon. The chiffon was cut into different tiers. I made 75 strips of 2 x 60 ruffle fluff and sewed it onto 60 feet of skirt. Just because I like math - that is 375 feet of gathering. It took forever, but it was worth it!

After all that hard work, I still can not get a good picture of Clara in the skirt. I finally had to give in a give her a binky just so I could get her to sit still . Hopefully one of these days I will be able to get a decent picture instead of one like this...