Mod Mini Skirt Project: Two Color Mini

Okay, I've got skirts coming out of my ears, but I'm okay with that. However, I did decide to shake things up and make a skirt that's a little more interesting... What inspired me? I saw this skirt pattern online, but of course, I could not find it in my size. And if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm WAY too lazy to do things like resizing patterns. I know there are directions online somewhere and they're probably super easy, but wood shop class ruined my GPA in high school. Let's just say I'm a little adverse to anything that even resembles drafting. I still have nightmares.


I ended up deciding to improvise. I've been adverse to improvising as I've learned to sew. I feel like I've finally gotten to the point, though, where I understand construction enough to get creative. Improvisation is my new friend. But I'm pretty sure we'll have a falling out eventually...

The pattern that inspired me
(ABOVE)

I couldn't go for the design on the pattern I found-- it seemed too complicated. I decided to make a skirt that was half one color and half another color. It would have a colorblocking effect, and it would look totally kickass. And I'm happy to report that's *pretty much* the result.


How did I do it? Well, first I got some orange polyester out of my stash. All I needed was white. Much to my dismay, I had to resort to buying white polyester for the other half at...gasp...Joanns! I have been disappointed with the quality of the fabrics there, but I couldn't find vintage polyester fabric online in white. And I'm so old school that I didn't want anything modern. I'm afraid it would just be the same stuff they sell at Joanns. The white polyester I got there wasn't all that great. It was the highest quality stuff they sold, but still it was a lot chintzier than the vintage polyester, and much to my annoyance, it's kinda see through in the right lighting. In addition, the chintzy white polyester is somewhat drug down by the heavier vintage polyester on the orange side. It's not too noticeable. Still, I'm kinda annoyed.


To make this skirt, I adjusted the front pattern piece. Instead of placing it on the fold and getting one piece in one color, I placed it on fabric that wasn't folded and got a single thickness of just one side of the front. Then I took the piece, reversed it, and cut it on a single thickness of the other color. I also did something comparable with the back pieces to get an orange panel and a white panel. Everything else proceeded as normal except I had the additional step of sewing together the two front panels, whereas normally that's a continuous piece of fabric.


Regrets? Well, other than being annoyed with the fabric I got at Joanns, I do have one regret. I wish I had correlated the front and back side so that it would be every other color. Instead, I have front orange panel sewed to back orange panel and front white panel sewed at the side seams to back white panel. Oh well, not that big of a deal.

So, overall, I'm pleased with the result and learned something new: I can improvise! I've got to be careful with these new found superpowers, though. This could go bad. Very bad.

Happy sewing!
Astrid