Last Minute DIY Special Occasion Skirt

Hello! It’s been a while, how y’all doing, ya’ll ready for my shenanigans?? My mom asked me to attend a Breast Cancer Awareness Gala and of course I needed something to wear. Now, typically you wear pink for Breast Cancer awareness, but I didn’t have anything “special occasion-ish” that was pink that I’ve made. What to do, what to do, do I pull something together in my closet or do I make something? I’m a person that doesn’t like to sew for an event, it’s too much stress, I like to have things already in my closet that I can wear (dress, jacket, or separtes). My philosophy is, if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready LOL. This helps me always have something I like to wear for any occasion. It’s stressful shopping in stores and I like wearing something no one else will have! I know some people love the thrill and chaos of deadlines, but not me, nope. Before I start rambling, the skirt pattern I used is: Simplicity 8597, the review is below if you want to jump to it. Ok, so boom:

I found a pink RTW peplum top in my closet that I never wore, that was the anchor for the outfit. I had a RTW midi length skirt that would have worked but, I wanted a maxie length skirt so I could wear flats. Oh, yeah, I don’t wear heels anymore, the way my feet, knees and back are set up, it’s flats for me, I prefer to not even wear kitten heels LOL. I could have worn flats or sneakers with a midi length skirt, but I prefer a Maxie length skirt for special occasions. I have so much fabric in my stash, but not a lot of fabric appropriate for special occasions. I have a few knit pieces but not a lot of woven fabric choices.

No problem, I’ll just run to Joann, jk, they are closed! I’ve had success with special occasion fabrics from Joann in the past so that would have been a good resource. I went online and I feel like fabric prices have gone up so I said to myself, wear a black dress with pink accents (shoes, belt and brooch/pin), because I didn’t want to purchase more fabric. Stay with me, I’m giving you some back story lol. This is also why I don’t like to sew for specific occasions, too many variables, I gotta try and find the right fabric, pattern, fit it and sew it. I’m a slow sewer so that would take forever, I only had two ish weeks. Now, two weeks is usually enough time but I struggle to dig in and stay focused on one thing, so in Laquana time, that’s like 4 hours, and this isn’t the Great British Sewing Bee ( I love this show, it’s now on Roku and I’m on season 8 if you want to chat about it). Anyway, what am I going to do, wear a black dress that I have with pink accents or make something with the fabric I have?

I chose to make a skirt and as I looked through my fabric, I found some black and white polka dot Nylon Knit fabric that could work. Also, another layer to this, I could not figure out how to alter the top, I didn’t want to deconstruct it and the bust was too big. I was struggling because I was working flat and not just taking things in on my body (Smdh), after fifty-‘Leven iterations, I created an armhole princess seam, after pining on my body. I lowered the underarm seam and trimmed off some of the front sleeve to match what I reduced the armhole by when I made the princess seam. This would not have been hard if I did more alterations (sigh) and if I had a dress form that fit my current body, or I had a fit buddy. My dress form is too big now and it’s not adjustable (eye roll) and I was being hyper independent and didn’t ask for help. Come to think of it, this is why sewing takes me so long LOL.

I really wanted to use my fabric stash, my goal this year was to reduce my fabric stash by half by making things and or donating; I’ve done neither of those things so I forced myself to make this damn thing work! Joann’s closing was a blessing because I was forced to use what I have or wait for delivery which at this point, I didn’t have time. As a back up, I had a skirt I made for Charlotte frocktails that would have worked to with some alternations along with a black dress with pink accessories so that reduced some of my stress. I was determined to make something for this event and as you can see I nailed it! I really need to just make a plan, do a little at a time and get things done. After reading this story, I just shook my head, I made this harder than it needed to be LOL LOL.

• Pattern name/view: Simplicity 8597; I made view C because I didn’t have a lot of fabric.
• Size range (with measurements) 18W-26W
• What size did you make?I cut the 26W but should have cut the 24W and adjusted the princess seams at the seat since my fabric had not stretch. My waist is 38″ and hip is 47″ ish.
• What adjustments did you make and how long did they take? I trimmed about 1/4″ from the side seam at the hip (front and back), it had a little flap there, the pattern is curvier than I am. I could have added length to lower it a bit but I wanted a straighter fit, I straightened the curve of the hip a bit. I did sew one inch seam allowances and added elastic to the back waist because I didn’t grade between sizes from the waist to hip. If I wore heels I would have added length.
• What fabric did you use? I used a Nylon/Lycra satin knit from Fabric Mart. I used by sewing books to figure out how to treat the fabric (stitch, interfacing, hemming, etc.)
• What was the construction process like? Did the instructions make sense to you? Construction was straight forward, a few vertical seams, waistband and invisible zipper. The invisible zipper is the most challenging bit, and there are tons of videos and tips on installing this type of zipper. A light press of the teeth and measuring the start point for both sides of the side seam are paramount. Because my fabric had stretch along the selvedge, I used knit stay tap along the seams about eight inches from the waist down to prevent puckering and distortion of the knit. The fabric didn’t have any stretch from selvedge to selvedge but I wanted to be safe. I also added interfacing to the hem and a rayon stay tape to the waist to stabilize it because it’s heavy and a knit. I couldn’t find by clear elastic (eye roll) but that would have worked at the waist as well. I hand sewed the waistband and then top stitched after adding elastic to the back, see below. Lastly, to press nylon I used a cotton press cloth spritzed with water to press each seam and hem, that took forever! Sewing is mostly pressing anyway but that was the recommendation from the book. if you press directly even on the permanent press/nylon setting the fabric started to curl, my seams look good.
• How do you like the pattern’s fit? Do you think the design works well for your particular body shape? It fits good, standard commercial pattern sizing. I should have graded between sizes, but I’m ok, and comfortable adjusting the fit in fabric before finalizing seams. Also, the front and back piece are the same, I would create another pattern piece for the front, lower the center front of the front pattern piece and grading to nothing at the side seam. The pattern could go for a bit of shape if I wanted a precise fit since the front and back of me are not symmetrical . I did a basted fit before inserting my zipper so I felt confident not making anymore adjustments. There are princess seams in the front and back to allow you to fit, you can either grade between sizes or like me, cheat a little. I took a one inch seam allowance at the side seam only and added 1.25″ no roll elastic to the back waist band only. To do this, I measured two inches in from the back side seams only and tacked the 1.25″ elastic in place feeding it through to the other side seam and tacked that in place two inches from the side seam. This was a cheater way to adjust the waist, I didn’t want to fiddle with the waist on my body and I also have an apron belly and wanted the extra space up front. I used the following equation to figure out the elastic length:
• Example:
  • Back waistband (side seam to side seam): 20.75″
  • You’ll start 2″ in each side → usable casing = 16.75″
  • Waist excess (amount that your waist needs to be reduced by)= 2″
  • 16.75−(0.6×2)=15.55″
  • So cut the elastic about 15 1/2″ long (before seam allowance).

• Will you make the pattern again? If so, what fit or design changes will you make? Yes, I will, it’s an easy skirt, and cute. I would adjust the front and back princess seams if I make it again and size down in the waist. I will most likely create a front pattern piece that is fitted a little better with shaping and lowering of the center front.

Are you an event sewer? if so, how do you manage your time and stress? Or, are you like me, do you need to have things made in advance, and make them work? Lastly, do you do your own alterations or are you team make something new?