Ok so I decided since I can't find any loose fitting skirts that fit my style, I'm just gonna MAKE one! My idea: Take several funky bandanas, sew them together in a diamond pattern (so that it's pointed on the bottom), put a drawstring on them and viola! A skirt, right? In theory it sounds like it's gonna work, but I figured I better ask for advice anyway. Chances are I am going to be too impatient and end up attempting it before anyone responds! LOL I guess my main concern is bulkiness around the waist/hip area. I'd like it to be a little slimmer in the hip area but flared on the bottom, ya know, swingy and flowy. The bandanna's are all pretty much square shaped and mostly the same sizes. Since it's going to be pointed on the bottom (right now I am planning for 3 or 4 points) I guess flare or swinginess is subjective, but not sure what to do about the hip area, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be bulky. Since it's going to be in a diamond shape, I could perhaps make the triangles going down from the waistline more acute? Any ideas are appreciated. Once I'm done, I plan on putting beaded fringe around the bottom to weigh it down and make it move more (and it's just plain cool!)
That sounds like a neat idea! And you don't have to keep them all intact, if you're worried about bulkiness. You can cut some up and fray them at the edges and put sew them in random, or strategic, places to make it the fit you want. You don't have to fray them, actually....I just thought it would look cool to have a few odd ones. ;P Good luck! Elastic is good. I love it. You can even put elastic in and just sew on a little string at the ends so it looks like the whole thing is fabric. That's what I do. It saves fabric and gives you more room to grow.
i have made really easy skirts by just using 1 bandana for the front, and one for the back, with an elastic waist. the first one i made was too bulky in the waist/hip area (the first skirt was shaped like this [] sorta), so when i made the next one, i changed the shape a little by making that area more fitted (the end result was more a line, something like this /\ ) before i sewed it.
Actually what I have in mind is not mini-skirt style, but more of a ... longer flowier.. I dunno.. "gypsy" style skirt. Something I can sit crossed-legged on the floor and not show the world.. ya know LOL... But thanks for the suggestions so far!
i get what you're saying, but i figured that the waist area would be about the same as far as being too bulky or bunchy. once you piece the bandanas together however you want, you'll need to shape them like a skirt, instead of just a big square. you could use a skirt you already have to help figure out how to do the shape, or you could buy a pattern that has roughly the shape you like. if you want to do the gypsy bandana hem thing , that's fine, you can just do that, instead of sewing up a straight hem.if you decide to make a skirt like this, let me know how it turns out.
~*the best of luck with this bandana adventure! ummm.... my suggestion is to tailor your skirt to fit you once you have it basically all together :: try it on inside~out, have a bunch of pins handy, and pin it to how you would like it to fit, then sew it up in that shape! i hope that makes some sense! using a pattern from another skirt you like is a fantastic way to do it too! peace*~
Good idea prairepixie.. that's how I do it. All depends on how your brain works Guess ours work alike because that's how I make the clothes for me
To make the skirt into an a line, just measure your hips and then divide by 2 adding an 1/2 inch for seam allowance. then cut the fabric on an angle, depending on how wide you want the bottom of the skirt to be. The flowier the wider.
