I'm honestly not a great seamstress. It's something I dabble in, but I'm not enough of a perfectionist to be really good at it. With that said, you real seamstresses out there, may be appalled by my primitive techniques.
The first thing I had to do was choose a fabric. I found a great plaid with lots of primary colors at Joann. It also happened to be very similar to the plaid the grandma-to-be suggested when we first started talking about me doing this.
The fabric was just a simple cotton. I bought half a yard and roll of 3/4" elastic. I had white thread at home that I thought would look nice, so I didn't bother with any other stuff.
If I were to do this again I would have also purchased 1/2"-3/4" Velcro as well.
I came home at a bit of a loss for how to get started.
I knew I didn't want to hem the bottom after I put in pleats. So, counter-intuitively, I started with hem. I folded the fabric twice, ironed it flat and hemmed the whole length. (I'm sure there's some great technical term for folding twice, but I've never been much for technical terms.)
It took me a while to determine how long the kilt should be, but I settled on cutting it about 9 inches from the hem. I did this based on a baby skirt pattern I found online. I don't know how this length will work on the actual baby, but I have a feeling it may be too long.
Then I started making pleats because I knew I wanted all the seams on the top of the kilt to be on top of the pleats.
I got my iron out for this part too obviously.
It took me a while to figure out the easiest way to make this many pleats, but I discovered that I needed to stack them on top of one another rather than fold them under each other. I made the pleats an inch apart and folded about 1/4" under. I ironed and pinned each of them on the waist and hem. I left about 6" on the end for the front panel.
At this point I went ahead sewed across the waist to secure the pleats, took out my pins. I realize now that I probably should have left the bottom pins in so the pleats would stay sharp.
Then I set that part aside. I decided I wanted to make a separate waistband with elastic rather than adding elastic to the pleated part of the kilt.
So, I made a waistband and attached it to the base of the kilt. I did this by cutting a strip that was 2" wide. (I would do 2 1/2" if I did this again. Then I sewed the edges right side together so it was inside out. I turned it right side out with a pen (a nifty trick I learned in 4-H as a kid), and put the elastic in.
I've never really learned how to work with elastic, so this part didn't come out quite how I envisioned it. If you are ignorant like me, you might seek out some help or internet tutorials on this.
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| Front |
I attached the waistband to the top of the kilt with a very small seam allowance. I didn't hem the top first or anything so there's a raw edge there. If I were to redo this part I might try a french seam there (thus the added width mentioned above), or just hem the top edge first.
I did not attach the flat front panel to the waistband. I did a very small hem on the top of it and left it out.
At this point, my sewing machine stopped working, so I hand basted the corner of the front flap to the bottom of the waistband.
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| Back |
If I were to do this again, I would have done this last part very differently.
I would have used elastic in the entire top of the project and not closed it around the waist. Instead, for closure I would have installed Velcro on the front panel and front of the waist. This would make the kilt more adjustable and comfortable to fit the baby.
That's how I would recommend someone wanting to try this do it.
With all the trial and error, the finished product is pretty cute if I do say so myself.
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