My feline friend came to visit while I was taking photos hehe.
I actually made this skirt ages ago but it’s taken me forever to photograph it. I picked this fabric up at a rummage sale for something like $3. At first it was going to be some kind of zippy crop top, possibly with a peplum. Then I decided I would probably never wear that and fell down the rabbit hole of brocade skirts on Pinterest. Then it was an issue of whether it should be a Moss skirt, a pleated skirt, or something in between. I decided to go with the pleats.
It’s pretty basic, really. The Armstrong book talks about all kinds of technical shenanigans for making pleats but to be honest, I just measure out a waistband in the right size and then fuss with the pleats until they fit the waistband. The result is probably not quite as neat as it could be, but meh.
Helpful pleating tip: regardless of whether you measure out your pleats ahead of time, try to angle them so the inside fold of the pleat sticks out past the edge of the fabric. This keeps them from splaying open and keeps them nice and neat.
The top is actually a cropped Nettie top that I’m wearing backwards. It’s not technically meant to be reversible but I was getting dressed one day and the low scoop neck didn’t quite work with the outfit so I decided to try turning it around. The shoulders end up being slightly off but not really noticeably.
Now excuse me while I go pet the kitty who is currently indignantly meowing because I ignored him while I finished taking photos. (For the record, after that photo, he settled about halfway between me and the camera and licked his bits — out of view, thankfully.)
Very pretty. I’m not sure I understand what you mean about the inside fold of the pleats though.
Thanks Kathy! I just mean when you fold fabric into a pleat, you’ll end three overlapping layers. Instead of making the two inner layers flush with the top layer (and with the waistband, or whatever you’re sewing it to) offset it by shifting it 1/8″ or so above that line. It sort of forces a slight angle to the pleat and helps prevent that issue where you sit down and all your pleats splay open. (If that still didn’t make sense let me know and I’d be happy to post a photo of what I mean!)
Thanks Ping, I understand what you mean now.
I love that you can reverse your Nettie! I’m going to have to try that with mine once I finish it. It’s all cut out!
Thanks! Yeah the fit isn’t perfect when you wear it backwards but I used a really stretchy and thinner knit fabric so it’s a bit more forgiving.