X-Marks "Cheerleader" Skirt

**mudd** · 12th May 07, 07:28 AM

I hope that floor is clean!

**The F-H.C.A.G.** · 12th May 07, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by mudd

I hope that floor is clean!

We have 2 small children, one dog of our own and 2 others that visit frequently. That floor is usually about as clean as your name

! But, I did sweep it before laying that out.

Be well,

**Alan H** · 12th May 07, 08:21 PM

<i>claps hands, excitedly

**The F-H.C.A.G.** · 13th May 07, 06:11 PM

So, my day was less productive than I thought it would be. I forgot to mention that I had gone on a 7 mile hike before I posted at mid day. Then we had our picnic and I proceeded to work on the skirt some more. The mistakes began to come out today

.

First, the bar tacking I did at the fell line was a bit premature. I had to remove it in order to be able to sew the pleat edges.

Then I sewed up the inner pleat edges.

And the outer pleat edges (again, I probably could have skipped this part, but it stabilizes the raw edges of the seams between the black and tartan fabric).

Here's how it looks, all laid out with the pleats arranged (I flipped over a little on the bottom to show the inner pleat).

I also had to sew on the strip with the velcro. Here's where it needs to be, but as you can see, it needs to be sewn over the wide pleat under the apron, and under the edge of the left hand hem.

It was tricky, but I was able to do both, with the machine, without stitching showing on the over apron (except on the very top, where the waistband will be)

Next...how I discover I have a big a**

Be well,

**The F-H.C.A.G.** · 13th May 07, 06:24 PM

So, I now am down to the hardest part. I need to figure and pin in the taper. I did the figuring last night, in the shower, but the actual application is much more difficult. Remember (if you read the work sheet in my first post) I measured the widest part of my butt as 40" and my waist (actually, a little lower, because I want this to ride a little low) as 35", so my taper is not too extreme (only 5"). I have 11 pleats, but won't taper the first, last and middle one, which leaves 8 pleats (5/8" each, or 4 at 1/2" and 4 at 3/4"). Turns out, it really is easier to just sit down and start pinning and see what looks good.

So I pinned,

and, pinned... OWWW!

Then, I thought, maybe I should pin down the bottom of the fell, and just hold this up against myself to be sure it fits well there, before
I keep hurting myself. Sure enough, it did not fit!!!!!

Apparently, my butt is closer to 42" than 40"! Maybe I should do more hiking

.

I have very little material left, but I do have one slightly irregular strip that can be made into another pleat-I'll need to rip out the hem, one pleat edge and one join and put the extra pleat in (right next to the underapron, to preserve the sett). Here's a preview, but I'm too discouraged to do any more today (and it's too late). I will continue on my next day off (Thursday, I think).

The new pleat is to the right (not yet inserted, of course). Some may recognize this as the scrap of fabric I used to test the properties of my two fabrics together.

WAAAAAHHH!!!!!!

Be well,