She Wore an Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Gold Lame Chiffon Pettiskirt
It has been a busy spring here at the LaRue household. Sudden surgery, business trips, A-Honor Rolls (go G!) and LOTS and LOTS of sewing.
Some of the sewing I have basically brought upon myself (see Festival, Renaissance). Some of it I am being paid for (see Post, Today's). And some of it is stuff I have been working on for YEARS and have finally gotten off of my dead ass to complete (see Dress, Anatomy of a Renaissance).
Today I am going to display the latest of my creations, the Pettiskirt.
(That's Lillian 2.0, my child-sized dummy in the back there.)
Don't get all excited, I did not invent these. They are, however, the most popular dress-up item for the under-6 set in the Boutique Children's World today. They also can run you around $75+. I am making this particular one to go under a dancing outfit for someone.
They take SCADS of yardage of fabric, and if you don't have a ruffler for your sewing machine (which I currently do not) they can take LOTS of time gathering those individual ruffles and sewing them on.
Should you want to make your own, I suggest you go to The Domestic Diva's Blog and follow the instructions she has there. The link to Martha's site has instructions for an 18-24m size, although the video is helpful. You want the link below the picture - it tells how to measure to make a pettiskirt for someone of any size, such as the 15-year-old I am making mine for.
Turns out the original one I made for said 15-year-old is not quite long enough in the back, so I made her a different skirt, and finished this one for someone else. However, since I had children specifically so they would wait on me, do my chores and model for me (and I need to work on those first two still) I borrowed the smaller one and made her pose:
Everyone should wear jeans with chiffon. Its the new fashion - I'm sure I've seen Sarah Jessica Parker wearing something like that somewhere.
Basically, a chiffon pettiskirt (with gold lame silk dupioni waistband) should take you 4-4.5 hours if you do not have a ruffler attachment for either your sewing machine or serger. Particularly since you have to roll the edges of the chiffon on the end ruffles. That can take forever, as you should have around 35 yards in that last little 2 inch ruffle. But the results are worth it, and I GUARANTEE that anyone under the age of 10 will drool over it. My 10-year-old (above) who claims to be too old for such things thought FOR SURE that I had made this for her. Which is very sweet in a "its all about me" kind of 10-year-old way.
More pictures of work in progress to come. Also, I am excited to announce a joint venture with the Cheap Chick coming soon - a blog that is basically just for the two of us to talk about things. If you want to read it and find it funny, well, hey! Good for you! Hope you enjoy it. But it is essentially just for the two of us to talk about whatever we feel like discussing. It should premiere later this week.
And hey! Send pictures or post comments about what you all are making. Its fun to share. Mrs. Dremen, my kindergarten teacher said so.
Awesome job! Your daughter is adorable!
With friendship,
Lisa
Posted by:Lisa thedomesticdiva | May 13, 2008 at 03:31 PM
Gee, in a 45-year old not very cute way, I thought you were making that for me. To go with my white lace up go go boots.
Posted by:standing still | May 13, 2008 at 06:26 PM