No-Pattern Skirts

I found an interesting group of fabrics at JoAnns the other day. Turquoise/teal with brown, which unfortunately seems to be the theme at Limited Too these days. Those of you with preteen daughters will know what I mean. I'm thinking it almost looks like a summer SWAP/capsule kind of thing.
The two fabrics on the right became skirts today. The one on the top right is a very thin jersey knit that is seamed into strips and then has layers of tulle and sequins applied down the seams.


I turned it into a skirt by holding it around myself (it was 54" wide and the stripes ran lengthwise (railroad style)) so I knew I only needed a yard of it. I measure 45" around and needed an inch or two of ease, so it worked just fine. I used steam a seam to hem it, left a slit unsewn on the side seam for movement, and serged in narrow elastic at the waist. The only adjustment I made was to level it, scooping out about 2" along the center front waist.

I love the fact that it has only one seam.

Sometimes you fall in love with a fabric that makes such a strong statement it stands on its own. So then all you have to do is make it fit you.

Here's the brown one:

It's a thin cotton woven with sequins and embroidery. Again, a busy fabric needing a simple treatment, but I had that ethnic/peasanty thing in mind. I decided to make a basic straight skirt with a ruffle. This one has more ease since the fabric is a woven. I made a doubled ruffle so I wouldn't have to hem it, gathered it, stitched it on, then seamed it up. This one has the same waistline treatment -- narrow elastic serged in and then folded over and zigzagged.

There you have it! No patterns needed.

I hope to get some of the knits sewn up into tshirts this week. The dark teal is a rayon/poly/lycra blend that would make a fabulous Burda twist top if I can work out the issues with that pattern. I'm leaving for vacation at the beach week after next, so I want a few new pieces.