Dotted Swiss Bubble Skirt

Some time ago, I received a wonderful gift of the book “Shape Shape 2, Sewing for Minimalist Style” by Natsuno Hiraiwa. In search of a new project recently, I decided to break it out!

I chose the “Double Layer Skirt” for my project, but I made a few alterations along the way to get more of a bubble skirt look.

Project

Dotted Swiss Bubble Skirt

From the front

From the back- the same!

Pattern

Shape Shape 2 “Double Layer Skirt”

The original

Materials

3 yards grey cotton dotted swiss from Mood (but I had LOTS left over)
I used the back of the material as the front, as I liked the texture.

Notes

I used only one fabric, so my skirt was not reversible (well, you could reverse it if you wanted to, but the inside looks exactly the same as the outside)

The skirt pattern calls for the inside and the outside of the skirt to each have their own waistband to allow for the skirt to be worn in many different ways- I did not do this.  I simply twisted the inner layer of the skirt by 45% (a quarter twist) and basted it to the outer layer at the waist, and then I added a single waistband.

I shortened my skirt to above the knee- no one wants a poofy calf-length bubble skirt!

What did I learn?

It didn’t occur to me when I was planning that if I made a lined tube (like a very tall bagel) and left an opening in a side seam, I would not be able to turn it to the right side.  This threw a wrench into my original waistband plans of simply sewing around the top of my "tube" to make a casing for elastic.

Fortunately I did figure it out before sewing everything together, and ended up seaming the bottom of the skirt with right sides together (so the seam allowance would be on the inside), but seaming the top of the skirt with the wrong sides together. I then folded the top over and used it to form a casing, which had the added advantage of not needing to be interfaced because of the two layers.

The final verdict

I think this skirt is really cute, but my husband asked, “What is that?” when he saw it.  It is sort of fussy to wear- if you don’t arrange the bottom just so you end up with one part having a big fold and being shorter than the rest.  I still like it though!