Parrokeet Peasant Skirt

I’m not sure what I had in mind when I bought a few yards of really bright parrokeet fabric in two colorways last year:

Oh, right: it was cheap. All fabric looks better when it's only 2.99 a yard.

Whatever the original plan was -- if there was a plan -- I couldn’t resist making a tiered peasant skirt from it. Just for fun. I wore peasant skirts back when I was in high school, the first time they were in. So this is a "memory lane" kind of project for me.

I mostly followed the instructions in Sew What!: Skirts. I suspect they are starting with a top tier that’s smaller than mine, judging by the miniscule size of the slim young thing in their picture. One full width of 44" was about right to go around me and have enough left over for seam allowances and still be able to trim the selvage off. I'm not thrilled about that, but hey, having to piece the width of the hip tier would have been worse, so that's one more thing to add to my "at least I'm not that tubby" list. I think I doubled the fabric for the second tier, then something less than double for the 3rd and 4th tiers, as I could see it was starting to get a little extravagant in the fullness department.

For elastic, I cut the band off an old Victoria's Secret stretch camisole top: you know, the kind with a shelf bra inside. The top was headed for the trash, but I realized the elastic (which is just a tad tighter than necessary around my ribs) was a nice comfy size for a low waist fit. There's some risk that the weight of the skirt might pull it a little lower than planned, but unless and until I loose at least 5 more pounds it will do.

I only did 4 tiers, aiming the hem at mid-calf rather than ankle, and alternating the red and blue background. Five tiers might be rather spectacular, although perhaps too much of a good thing. Bottom line is doing any more basting and gathering and pinning of all that fabric and I mght have lost my mind.

Close up, while sewing, I was more aware of the background color difference. Stepping away, what's most noticeable is the green of all that lovely foliage:

I gotta admit, it turned out better than I expected! I thought the cotton would be too stiff, and the lowest tier too full, but it's not. I'll get hubbie to take a pic of me wearing it one of these days, but he's out doing a post-office-and-health-food-store run at the moment.

I seriously thought, when I started this, that it was just for fun and would not be anything I'd ever wear outside the house... but I'm liking it. I even have cute red sandals to go with it. And if I ever need something to wear to a Cinco de Mayo party (assuming I'd go to one, which is unlikely), I'm covered.

Hmmm, I bet I’ve got enough fabric left to make a pair of lounge pants... for sure I'm not making anything else with any kind of a ruffle or tier for a while.