A Tablecloth Skirt for Me!

Just before New Year's I made a tablecloth skirt for myself. This skirt is a good example of the effects of the Magic Closet (and, in this case, gravity).


The tablecloth skirt is a pretty simple creation to begin with and since I already planned to complicate things by trying to line it, I didn't want to make it even more complex by adding a zipper and waistband, so I used elastic inside an added casing.

The material is a stretch rayon-linen. Not the easiest stuff to work with, given the stretch, but it is heavy and I thought it would drape nicely. For this skirt I used a 50-inch square of fabric plus four rectangles that were 15" x 50". I cut a hole in the middle of the square that was 2" larger in circumference than my hips. Now, I am not a tall person. I am short - 5'4" on a day with good posture. This skirt was so long that to hem it, I folded up one inch, pressed it, turned it up another two inches, pressed it and stitched it. And it's still crazy long. Obviously, I could have used a smaller square to begin with.

Initially, I tried underlining the square with Bemberg as a means of lining the skirt. For some reason that I don't remember clearly now, this didn't work. I am thinking it had to do with the stretch in the outer fabric. In theory, this would be a good way to manage lining this skirt so it doesn't stick to tights. I ended up cutting a square of Bemberg with a hole out of the middle. The lining square was as wide as my lining fabric (60"-ish?), so I pinked the two raw edges rather than hemming them. I matched up the holes and attached the casing to both the skirt and the lining.


You can see this makes for an odd lining. I will probably trim away those points with my pinking shears one of these days.

The non-roll elastic I bought (packaged from Fabricland) is so super stretchy, that I had to make it ridiculously smaller than my waist size so that it would hold up the weight of the skirt. Unfortunately, immediately upon finishing the skirt, I put it on and was dismayed by the bulk around my belly. It just didn't look nice. I think it was a combination of the elastic waist and the heavy fabric. I wore it once and was terribly frustrated, so I hung it in my closet and tried to forget about how much fabric I used on an unflattering skirt.

A week or two later I had to chair a meeting at my daughter's preschool. I like to dress a little bit nicer than my usual jeans and t-shirt for these meetings, so I pulled out the skirt and paired it with a jeans jacket that would hide the bulky waist. To my surprise, the waistline was no longer bulky! Everything hung nicely. Hooray for gravity (and the Magic Closet)! The skirt is still entirely too long for dealing with stairs or sitting in a rolling chair, but otherwise it is very functional.

When I make this skirt again, I hope to remember to use a smaller square of non-stretch woven, underline the square before I cut out the circle,  and go to the effort to make an actual waistband, as this would reduce the bulk further.

Comments

Love the drama of the width/shape at the hemline! And three cheers for the Magic Closet; it really does exist.
Jack said…
Very nice! I love the pictures in the background too, they are so similar.

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