denim skirt: finished!

the denim skirt for my seven year old is finished! actually i finished a week ago, just didn't have the opportunity to photograph it sooner. it's such a confidence booster to design, draft and sew a project. oh yeah, and have it look good!

[aside: i'm just going to acknowledge that most of the finished product photos are a bit dark and don't show the detail very well. i even photo edited them lighter. that probably means i need a better camera...]

i added a simple straight waistband. originally i was going to make it 2" wide, but settled on 1 1/2". i used underlining to stabilize the waistband and used a thinner cotton material for the waistband facing. this cuts down on the bulk and gives me a chance to add a little color to the inside. which i love! and of course, a little more topstitching. 

instead of using an invisible zip, i went with a standard zip. i find that the invisible zips get caught on bulkier seams and i don't want my daughter to have to struggle to zip her own skirt. she's the type that would just leave something half zipped if it requires too much effort. we're working on that.

with the zipper inserted, i added some elastic in the waistband to keep it comfortable for a kid. i stitched the elastic in place at each end, right next to the zipper. then i pulled the facing over and pinned it in place, then from the outside, stitched just under the waistband to catch the facing. in retrospect i probably should have stitched the facing in place along the lower edge first, then threaded the elastic. but... whatevs. this won't be my last waist band. then to stabilize the top of the waistband i stitched just next to the lower row of topstitching. my dark thread disappears into the denim, so i was able to get a nice crisp top edge.

i hemmed and hawed about whether to stitch the hem in my topstitching gold thread or to hide it with navy thread. i ended up with the gold to give it a more casual look. so that's that!

as i finished up this skirt i kept thinking: ooh this looks just like something i would pick up in the kids section of j. crew and immediately scoff at the outrageous price! just to find out i took a look over at their website and found a jean skirt.

[source]

cute, yes. but $55? considering that i made mine out of leftovers (the original fabric was on sale for about $6.50/yd)... again, why don't more people sew?

this little one adores her new skirt. her only complaint? the pockets aren't big enough. she was (and i quote) "hoping they would be big enough to put a book in." considering her favorite book at the moment is any of the seven harry potter books, that indeed, would be a big pocket. sigh... just can't win sometimes!


—lisa g