Pleated

Back in the Spring, my mom and I made a pilgrimage to Gaffney's Fabrics. As usual, I bought about twenty yards of fabric, brought it home, and dumped it on top of a pile in the sewing room. Oh, I had ideas--I always have ideas--but I never cut into a piece of fabric without agonizing over it first.

I had to have this fabric because of all the DOTS and because it's pretty sheer and lightweight. I was imagining it ade up as one of those Eighties-esque elastic-waist skirts that were starting to show up everywhere. Here's one from Modcloth:






I had my eye on Simplicity 2606, but the more I looked at the photo on the envelope, the clearer it became that all that gathering around the waist and hips was going to look terrible on me. I still wanted something with some fullness to give some weight to such sheer fabric, so I focused on pleats. Finally, I settled on Butterick 4686.

I'm happy with how it went together. Basically, it's two huge pieces that are then pleated pleated pleated all the way around. Slap in a zipper, sew on a facing, and you're done. Except...according to the pattern envelope, I should have cut a size 18. I disregarded that, cut a size 16, and then messed up and cut one piece incorrectly--on the line for a size 14. And still...it's too big. If this were sitting up at my waist, the length would be better so I guess I'll be fixing that one day soon. As it is, it looks like my mom bought my skirt a little big so I could grow into it!