A Birthday Skirt

Fabric and possible patterns

Goal number six on my March list was to make a birthday present for our granddaughter who turned one year old this month. (I can't believe it's been a year since I visited.) When she was visiting this summer, she seemed drawn to the color orange. 

I had a yard of an orange thin wale corduroy fabric that I thought I could make a dress or a jumper for Miss A. This fabric came to my stash when a husband was clearing out his wife's fabrics after she died. The fabric has been in my stash for more than 30 years. It was time to use it!

Back in progress

I chose a couple patterns. Unfortunately, when I went to cut out the jumper, I didn't have enough fabric. This fabric was 38 inches wide and not 40 or 42. So I needed to come up with a different plan. I decided that I would make a skirt instead.

This is a Stretch and Sew pattern that I made when our daughters were the size of our granddaughter! I used it again when the older granddaughters were the same size. I'd say this was one pattern that I've gotten a good return on my three dollar investment!

Fortunately, I had thread that was a close match to the fabric. I had interfacing on hand and even a zipper. The zipper came from my grandmother's stash. I'll wonder what she was going to make with a five inch reddish orange zipper! Likely, it was a good buy so she purchased it for "someday."

In a few hours, I had attached the pockets and yoke to the 

Finished view

back of the skirt. I also had stitched the zipper and attached 
the waistband to the front of the skirt.

Not long after that, I stitched the back sections together, made a casing for the elastic. I added the elastic and then sewed the side seams. I used the serger to finish the seams and bottom of the skirt. I topstitched the hem and added the closure. I had a finish!

The birthday girl modeling the skirt

I used a yard of fabric which brings the total of fabric I've used from stash to negative one yard! I'll be doing a little shopping to find a few items to accessorize the skirt. I hope my granddaughter will have fun wearing it.

Since the fabric for this project was a large scrap, I'm linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.