Fantastic Flounce
Flounce, I was happy to learn, is the word given to describe the flowy bottom piece of A-line dresses and skirts that give the garment a “flirty” look. Or at least this is my definition for the word. I am fascinated by not only the word, but the effect the flounce had on my most recent project.
Linen skirt with flirty flounce
Amy was sweet to let me borrow her Simplicity 2655 skirt pattern for my first week of the so-so sewing project take 2. I chose this pattern because it looked relatively simple and a good one to ease back into sewing clothing (I haven’t been sewing much since the end of so-so sewing last season). To my delight the skirt did come together fairly easy. And by fairly easy I mean after I re-cut and then re-attached the waistband from sewing it on upside down (twice). I took it totally for granted that a waistband has a true top and bottom. Even though when I cut it I knew there was a slight arch, I didn’t pay attention to how I was sewing it on and it totally came out convex instead of concave.
Now, this is an easy error to fix, and it was, once I figured it out. You see, the first time I sewed on the waistband I didn’t realize it was upside down (I know, I know. Should I really be trying to sew clothes). But I DID notice that my waistband was about 4 inches too short. No good. Since I had thrown away all my scrap material, (note to self: keep extra fabric scraps until project is complete — just in case) I could not fix it right then and there. No. I had to wait a full day and go back to the fabric store and purchase another 1/2 yard of fabric.
The next night I recut the waistband and reattached. THIS time realizing it was on upside down (not sure why I didn’t notice the day before). So I rip out the seam and flip it. When I got to the end, I saw that once on correctly, my new and improved, 4 inch longer waistband was now 4 inches too long. Geez. For those of you not paying attention, this means that had I realized my mistake the day before I would have saved myself a trip to the fabric store, not to mention the $5 extra dollars I spent on fabric.
Had I thought about it for even a second, it totally made the most sense something was sewn incorrectly as opposed to me cutting it 4 inche too small. I mean, cutting is the easiest part. No way I messed that up. So a valuable lesson was learned. If something doesn’t come together as planned, take a moment and think it through . . . look at the steps again to determine what went wrong. I am so used to cutting corners and making my own rules not caring about the actual instructions that I totally jumped to “how can I fix this” instead of figuring out what went wrong first.
In the end, I got the skirt all put together, and even added in a lining just for good measure. It fit perfectly and I think it looked great. I LOVE the fabric choice (a light-weight linen) and think it was just right for the style of skirt. I’m sure I’ll be making more skirts with flounce as I truly loved that extra little something the skirt had.
