Flower Power! Retro High-Waisted Skirt

A while back, I found the brightest, cutest vintage fabric at a yard sale. It is a little more stiff than the cotton I usually work with, so I thought it would be perfect for making the high-waisted, retro style skirt I've seen various patterns for.  I didn't have a patterm, though, so I winged it. I took a pencil skirt that fits me pretty well and traced it onto my fabric. I made a separate wide waistband and sewed it to the skirt while adding matching lime green piping in between. I'm glad to finally be able to wear this cute print rather than just admire it as part of my fabric stash!

The Hills Are Alive!

My favorite movie of all time is "The Sound of Music."



You don't even want to know how many times I've seen that movie. I still love it as much now as I did as a little kid-- I still think Julie Andrews is the best singer in the world, the song "Edelweiss" still makes me cry, and Captain Von Trapp is still the most handsome movie character ever. So when I see fabric that reminds me of something Maria would wear, how can I pass it up?  This floral voile is SO "Sound of Music":

Surely Maria Von Trapp would have worn a skirt or dress made from this material!

I decided to make a bubble skirt for myself. I love the poofy, gathered look of a bubble skirt, and it is something different than the plethera of straight or a-line skirts hanging in my closet.  For me, comfort is key, so I cut the bottom band off a pilled t-shirt and used it for a fold over waistband.

Since the fabric is pretty thin and I'd prefer to not have a Princess-Diana-see-through-skirt moment, I used two layers of fabric for the skirt and gathered the top of both layers. I then attached them to the band.  To make the bubbled bottom, I simply trimmed the underskirt shorter than the top layer, gathered the bottom hem of the top layer, and folded the top layer under and sewed it to the underskirt.  And voila-- a Sound of Music bubble skirt!  Bet there has never been one of those in existence before!