Constructing: Cheap Frills Skirt

I've had this fabric sitting in my closet for three years, so finally I cut out a silhouette and gave it to a really talented seamstress I know to work it up (since I've been too busy sewing for other people to get anything done for myself). hehehe

I told her to leave it unhemmed 'cuz I wanted to try this ruching at the bottom.

You all know my success rate with dressing in neutrals is about once every three months, but looking at these pictures, I thought, I think I really did it this time!

Even Tien could be proud of me!

(Kristina J. Cheap Frills Skirt, GAP blouse, Anthro Pony Prix Tights, MIA Cadet Booties)

Here's a tutorial for those of you wanting to try this at home.

This is machine ruching--basically a piece of fabric gathered on both sides and sewn into something. You can do this on an angle or straight, like I did here.

Anytime you're adding gathers to something a

good rule to follow is the rule of three.

Determine the width in inches, then triple that number.

For example, the width of the bottom of this skirt was 20 inches lying flat, so I doubled that number to 40 to include the front and back then made my gathering strip 120 inches wide.

If you only double the width, you'll get to few gathers and to multiply by

four might be overkill, unless a really, really full look is what you're after.

Three times the width gives you a really generous amount of gathering.

Your facing strip would only be the same width as the skirt bottom--40 inches.