A Little Reversible Scalloped Skirt

This project was one of those that started with the pattern.  Maris of Sew Maris posted a sneak peek of her Cosmos reversible skirt pattern, and I was taken by the idea of a reversible skirt.

By the end of a typical day, whatever top my daughter is wearing will likely be covered in a happy collage of what she ate that day. But, whatever happens to be on her lower half is often in pretty decent shape.  The idea of being able to flip a perfectly fine skirt over, pair it with a clean shirt, and have a new outfit without much fuss really appealed to me.

I have to say that I love that kiddie things are perfectly sized to use up my treasured scraps. After trying out several different fabric combinations, the ultimate winners were two fabrics I picked up awhile back from FineFabrics.com. The shimmering green floral was left over from the making of a Lonsdale, and the textured white floral was left over from the making of a pleated skirt.  I thought that the small scale of both floral prints would work well for such a tiny skirt, and I liked that both fabrics would coordinate with a waistband made from a bit of dark green fold-over elastic that I had in my stash.

This skirt was a really quick sew. First, it’s tiny.  Second, because it’s reversible, all of the seam allowances are enclosed, which means there’s no need to spend extra time French seaming or anything.

The trickiest part was the scalloped hem. If you’ll believe it, I’d never sewn scallops before.  I spent a little extra time on the scallops each step of the way to make sure I was making them as nicely as I could. First, I carefully cut the scalloped hem of all four skirt pieces (front and back of both sides).  Then I marked the point where each scallop came together right at the stitching line so I knew exactly where to pivot when I was sewing (a tip from Maris’s instructions!). Then I clipped and trimmed the seam allowances before turning the skirt right side out and carefully pressing the scallops into place.

The only downside was that the smallest size, a 2-3, was still too big for my one-and-a-half-year-old little girl. So, I just cut off a bit of length and gathered the skirt relative to her true-waist measurement.  However, I failed to realize that a skirt like this would either want to sit above or below her round little belly – not right on the mid-line where I took my measurement.  For now she’ll wear it at her empire waist – a look I find to be super cute on her anyway.

Trying to capture a garment on a toddler with a camera is quite an interesting experience! She wasn’t even really crawling when I took photos of her Halloween costume last year, so I could get all the photos I wanted while camped out in one spot. This time we covered quite a lot of ground at a local park before I called it quits!

Maris made the Cosmos reversible skirt pattern for issue 8 of the One Thimble digital sewing magazine, and I made the skirt as part of Maris’s pre-magazine pattern testing. Even though I made the skirt before the magazine was put together (it’s still coming soon), I had no idea that I might be part of the promotional material! But, look who made it onto the One Thimble Facebook page:

I wonder if she’ll be in the magazine as well?  Does anyone get One Thimble?  If so, will you let me know if you see her in there once issue 8 comes out?

Also, who else has enjoyed a recent quick sew?