meringue skirt pt. 1: you call this grey?

i'm very excited about the two colette pattern pieces i'm working on! first up: the meringue skirt.




okay, this skirt is just darling. initially the idea of a scallop hem seemed a little too cutesy for me but it totally grew on me and it's really the perfect detail for a no frills skirt. i decided to make it in wool for a classic look. now, to be honest when i ordered my "grey wool" i kinda expected it to be "grey." not decidedly "brown."

i guess my brain went straight to grey and overlooked the fact that indeed the online picture does look brown... sigh. 


cue disappointment upon reviewing online purchase... 


it's not that i have a problem with brown. brown is perfectly fine, i just thought black/white grey would transition me into spring a little better and not scream "autum!" okay, i'll live.


for this skirt i digressed from the instructions just a little. first i feel like i need some sort of waist definition. usually i'd just modify a pattern and add a waistband, but i decided instead to just add belt loops so i could belt it. it worked out great, though can i just tell you how much i HATE making and sewing on beltloops? it ranks very high on my list of things that i do not enjoy doing. fortunately, in this case it was well worth the effort, because they turned out perfectly. whew!


another change i made was fully lining the skirt instead of using the scalloped facing. two reasons: one—this is wool, wool is itchy for me. two—i really don't like doing a blind hem. not out of laziness or anything, but i don't like seeing the distortions from a mediocre blind hem job. it can cause the skirt to hang funny and i just wanted to avoid that. plus, adding a lining was very easy to do! i simply cut my lining identical to my wool. 

i did take the time to chalk out my stitching line which made this so much easier!

i stitched the hem with the wool and lining together, then trimmed the seam allowance and pulled the lining to the inside and pressed the edge.

on a side note, i highly recommend  trimming the seam allowance very narrowly and notching in between the scallops only rather than notching the entire edge of the curve. since most of the curve is along the bias of the material, it will easily press into place. notching around the curve tends to give a lumpier edge.

okay, so to further make sure the scallop edge is perfect, i top stitched the entire hem, which sounds much more tedious than it actually was. i simply followed the edge of my pressor foot and traded out my regular thread for a heavier topstitching thread so it shows up better.

it keeps the lining from trying to peek out the bottom and gives nice definition to the scallop. i also basted the skirt fabric and lining together at the waist just to keep them from shifting around as i finished the waist.

the other change i made to the pattern was swapping out the waistband facing for some of that fat belting elastic. now, this was pure genius on my part, if i do say so myself. i cut the skirt a sz 6 because i was kind of in between the 4 and 6. but, to make sure i got a snug fit, i cut a piece of elastic about 1/2" smaller than my actual waist. i pinned the elastic to the skirt, evenly distributing it.

 then using a zig-zag stitch i stitched the elastic to the top of the skirt.

then i turned the elastic to the inside and hand stitched the elastic edge to the zip.

then i stitched in the ditch at the right side seam through both the skirt fabric and the elastic. 


wool (i have read) tends to stretch out as it's worn, so the elastic makes sure this doesn't happen! i love this elastic thing because it keeps the skirt comfortable and the elastic undetectable from the outside when you wear it. how nifty is that? this is perfect for any non-waistbanded skirt. seriously, i hope you try this!!!


okay, so that's it for the construction... pics of me wearing it to come!


—lisa g