Pattern Review ~ Girly Stripwork Skirt from Pink Fig
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Michelle from greetingarts reviewed this Pink Fig pattern for us. Her daughter loves the skirt, and Michelle gained some sewing confidence with the project. Don’t miss Michelle’s intro and her review below.
Pattern |
| Description | |||
| A versatile, fun and infinitely twirl-able skirt that can be made to suit any girly-girl’s taste. |
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| Materials | |||
| Quilter’s cottons are perfect for this skirt, as there are a *lot* of seams and you need something that won’t get too bulky.
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| Fabric Recommendations | |||
| Have fun! This is a perfect time to go through your stash. The mixing and matching up of the fabrics is the best part. You could use just three different fabrics, one for the hem and waist band, and two for the body of the skirt, or you could go nuts and use up to 22. It’s entirely up to you how complimentary or how contrasting you want to go. The next one I make is going to be a Halloween skirt, using novelty holiday fabrics.
Twirly! |
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| Overall Design |  |
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| If your girl likes to twirl, you simply can’t go wrong with this dress. |
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| Written Instructions |  |
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| There are several typos, which are explained and corrected on her website, pinkfig.typepad.com, but they are there nonetheless. You need to be very careful and, in some cases, use common sense. For example, in one section the pattern is talking about the waistband, but the photo captions and some of the instructions say “hem band” instead. If you’re a literalist, this could get you confused. Also, in the same section, the pattern gives the measurements for folding over the waistband 1 1/2 inches, but later there is a typo that says 1/2″. A little confusing and perhaps careless, but it didn’t take me too long to figure it out. If you have any doubts, check the blog address for corrections. |
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| Diagrams / Images | |
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| Many detailed pictures, but I would have liked to see them in color or with a bit better b/w contrast. |
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| Pattern Pieces |  |
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| There are none! Hooray! A fantastic way to get your feet wet if you haven’t sewed clothing before. |
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| Overall Level of Difficulty | Confident Beginner |
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| A beginner could do this, the only thing to remember is that there are a lot of pieces involved. If you’re familiar with machine piecing quilts, this will be a breeze for you. The basting/gathering of the top might be a bit challenging as well. But this pattern is extremely forgiving. With all the gathering, and the interest in the fabrics, a lot of little mistakes can be hidden.
Piecing the main body of the skirt. |
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| Modifications + Tips |
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| I chain pieced the main body of the skirt, ending up with one long strip of 20 pieces. The pattern doesn’t specify, but you should definitely finish all your seams and complete all the topstitching before you join the strip into a circle. You can vary the pattern in so many ways, using less strips for a skirt that isn’t as full, and shortening or widening the hem and waistbands. It kind of bugged me that the seams for the hem band didn’t line up with any of the seams on the body of the skirt (not that it matters, it just bugged me for some inexplicable reason), but that could be fixed quite easily since the hem band is made of three pieced strips. If you lessened the number of strips for a slightly less flouncy skirt, you could just measure the finished circumference of your main skirt band, and adjust the hem and waist band pieces accordingly.
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| Conclusion | |||
| I was very pleased with the finished result, and more importantly, my daughter loves it and doesn’t want to take it off. This was my first foray into sewing clothing, and I’m thrilled that it’s completely wearable. A real confidence builder, I’d say. | |||
[tags]sewing pattern review, Girly Skirt pattern review, skirt pattern review, girl skirt pattern review, Pink Fig pattern, Pink Fig Girly Skirt sewing pattern, Pink Fig skirt pattern review[/tags]
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24 Responses to “Pattern Review ~ Girly Stripwork Skirt from Pink Fig”
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What a CUTE little skirt!! My little 3 year old granddaughters would simply LOVE a skirt like this! Thanks so much for the idea and pictures.
Sarah J Doyle
http://PatternsThatFitYou.com
http://SewingBusiness.com – blog
Thank you so much for the review. Your skirt turned out beautifully.
Talk about girly and cute! Great review, thank you!
OMG! This is sooo cute!!! I’ll have to make one!!! Thanks for sharing!
oh isnt that skirt just the cutest! i love the fabric choices! great review thanks!
This little skirt is super cute!
Thanks so much for the review. I’ve really enjoyed the Pink Fig patterns I’ve made so far and am happy to get a chance to see another one made up. This pattern looks like a great way to use a variety of fun prints, like a bundle of pink fat quarters. I’m pretty sure my girly girl would love a skirt like this!
Love it, will defently be making this one
The fabric you chose looks so cute together! – and I am just as perdantic about seams lining up
oh my that is cute, great fabric choices!
I have been chatting to Michelle about the beauty and dangers of skirts and little girls. My little girl is less than ladylike in her skirts sometimes! But no worries! We are completely sold on skirt making around here and have been making and blogging about them for a few weeks now. This pattern’s a welcome variation on our ‘twirly skirt theme’ that’s been bubbling around our house for a little while now!
Great review!
Jen
wow thats realy pretty
I ordered this Pink Fig pattern from Sew Mama Sew and absolutely love it.
Here are some links of how cute the skirts came out.
http://minermoments.blogspot.com/2008/10/coming-soon.html
http://minermoments.blogspot.com/search/label/Sewing
Love this skirt! We’re going to try to make one together (mother & daughter) for Sera who’s 10 yrs old. I think we’ll try 2 patterns rather than 4 but there’s tons of options of color/pattern options with this pattern. Thanks for sharing!
I really like your choice in fabric — it’s sweet, but with a little edge to it. And, is it wrong that I can see myself trying to make a much larger and longer version for me?
I LOVE this skirt…I feel like making it now and my daughter isn’t born yet. LOL
I just ordered this skirt pattern for my 4 month old. I can’t wait to make it! I have some of the same pink cupcake fabric, too. So cute!
I have made that skirt – and a dozen more with slight variations. I love it, and its was a great and easy skirt pattern to start out with. Yours turned out adorable.
Michelle
Oh wow, I love that. I might use that concept the next time I make a skirt.
my granddaughter would love it too. great colour combinations
Sue – http://www.mchats.etsy.com
Just out of curiosity, how wide are the strips? This looks pretty easy to make, and I have been looking for a skirt pattern like this for my daughter! Thanks!
Rather than serging(I don’t have a serger)or zig-zagging the seams, I french seamed them. I was quite pleased with this method. It didn’t prove to be too bulky. This gave the top-stitching effect on the outside and also enclosed the seams on the inside of the skirt. Darling little skirt pattern. Susan
Hi! This is Chelsea of Pink Fig Patterns. I don’t know how I didn’t know about this part (the reviews) of sew mama sew, but I just found it and I think it’s awesome! Is it weird that I am posting on my own review? lol!
Michelle – you were very sweet to me
This being one of my very first patterns I admit, I did have some typos. I even had this thing proof read by 2 different people, but somehow they missed those two mistakes as did I.
Anyway, they are fixed now in the newer printings and the corrections can also be found on my blog. I’m so glad everyone is enjoying making this skirt. It truly is one of my favorites!
P.S. I’ll take into consideration doing my instructions in color in the future to make them easier to see.
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