The Pettiskirt: An Intro

(image by Flora Bella, if you are a photographer her actions are AMAZING and can be found HERE)

Two summers ago I was introduced to these fluffier then fluffy skirts. My nieces all wanted them but they are CRAZY expensive in UT where they live (I am talkin' 90 dollars expensive as seen HERE) I have seen cheeper ones other places but they are not near as soft and fray pretty badly. Now you may look at this fluffy wonders and think OH MY GOSH that looks like a crazy hard thing to make and I promise it totally isn't. What it is, is a time sucker. These are SUPER easy but take a LONG time and A LOT of patience. I don't say this to discourage you but to prepare you. The other heads up I wanted to give was that what makes these skirts so amazingly soft and cute (and really to be able to make them at all) is a product called Nylon Chiffon. I looked EVERYWHERE in Northern VAand in UT and never found it in stores, ever. Most people gave me a blank stare or showed me to the Chiffon section (do NOT even attempt to make these with chiffon, I did before I new what they were made of and literally ended up crying at my sewing machine as it fell apart in my hands after crazy amounts of work). You want to know something ridiculous though? These skirts, that retail for close to or over 100 dollars, can be made for a little over 6 dollars. Yup, totally not joking. I buy my nylon chiffon HERE at AFC-Express. They have the most amazing colors and it is on sale rightnow $1.59 a yard. You need roughly 3 yards to make your skirt, bringing the total to $4.77!!! I know!!! I just about died when I figured all this out. The people at AFC are fabulous to work with, the shipping is a bit steep but I just order enough to make it worth it.

If you need some inspiration color wise check out the AMAZING gallery of photos HERE. Once you have picked out your nylon chiffon you are going to need a nice fabric for the top. There really is no SPECIFIC fabric you have to use but I like to go with one that has quite a bit of stretch like Satin Charmeuse. You will also need some fairly strong interfacing, ribbon, elastic, a safety pin and did I mention before? A whole lot of patience, but remember it is all straight stitching and you can TOTALLY do it! So gather what you need, go get inspired, and met me back here for a fun tutorial!

Cheers

Kelly