Comic Book Skirt

Hello again! I recently finished a second version of Simplicity 2226, in a really fun print. Inspired by Cindy of Cation Design's geek dresses and Leila of Three Dresses Project's Comic Book Hummingbird skirt, I decided to make one up myself for Dragon Con.

Okay, okay, this might be quilting cotton. Shhh...don't blow my secret identity (I'm still a sewist!). They don't seem to make novelty super hero prints in apparel fabric, so sometimes you just have to take a leap (wearing your web-slingers, of course) and try and choose the pattern wisely. Originally I was going to make a dress, but I decided to go back to the skirt pattern Simplicity 2226, because I've made it before with a fairly stiff fabric. Also look at this print! It's awesome, but also a whole lotta look. An entire dress would have made other people cross eyed.

I flat measured the dimensions of my last version of it, and then decided to cut a 6 in the skirt and a 14 in the waist. I knew from the last go around that with stiffer fabric, the gathers wouldn't drape well and I was better off just cutting a smaller skirt to begin with.

After putting in the zipper I realized it was way too big in the waist, so I ripped it out and then took it in by about 5/8" on each side of the center back seam. Happily, the second time I put in the zipper I think I did a better job. I prefer invisible zippers, so I used that instead of the lapped zipper it called for.

I didn't even attempt to match the pattern in the back because I squeezed this out of 1 1/2 yards of fabric. In fact, I had to piece together the inner waistband from a bunch of tiny pieces - it was a little like quilting!

I usually follow the directions to the letter, but I got a little brazen with this one. Invisible zipper! Machine invisible hem! Nicer finishing! My biggest change was the the inside finish of the waistband to give it a cleaner look. This pattern is marketed towards beginners, so it instructs you to leave the bottom edge of the waistband exposed, like this:

It looks messy to me, even if it is technically a finished edge, so this go around I folded the edge under and stitched it down.

My favorite part about this is the pockets. I love it when skirts and dresses have pockets!

It's funny, I remember the first time I made this skirt it took me weeks and weeks and felt like an uphill climb the whole way. This time, though, it all came together pretty quickly and easily. I really must be getting better at this. Except for gathers. Those are kind of my kryptonite. I must have redone the gathers 3 or 4 times, trying to get them evenly spaced, and eventually settled for good enough.

Still, I'm overall really happy with how this came out, and I'm beyond excited for Dragon Con.

I hope you all have fun Saturday plans. I have do some house cleaning and errands (ugh) before I head out to watch a rolly derby match with some friends. I've been dying to see roller derby since that Ellen Paige movie came out a couple of years ago!