I will freely admit that I had just one inspiration for this skirt, the amazingly imitable Melody Mae! Well, her real name is Andii but you’ll find her online as Melody Mae, a British plus size sewing gal with a thing for gingham. I stumbled upon Melody and her gorgeous gingham creations during Me Made May this year (more proof that MMM brings the international sewing community together). I immediately followed her on Instagram and started reading through her blog (previously Bourbon and Bras) and now, Melody Mae. I’ve used some pics of hers below, I credit her and Florence Carousel Photography (Melody, please let me know if there are other credits that should be here). If you take a look, you’ll see that Melody has a fondness for gingham skirts, trimmed with ric rac and huge patch pockets! Even though we live miles away, have never met or shared an email, I knew we could be friends when she wrote, “I have out-done myself pocket-wise, since these behemoths can actually hold an A4 magazine.” If I’m doing a pocket, I’m going to really DO a pocket! And with that in mind, I was off to make a skirt…
I have a plain gingham skirt but I don’t really wear it much. I thought long and hard about why I don’t use my existing gingham skirt before making another version. This black and white one was rescued from a dress I made that didn’t work out and it’s never felt good. I feel like the one I have isn’t grounded somehow. It’s hard to pair tops with because solid colour tops seem heavy against the somehow lighter, checked pattern and I feel like it looks off on me somehow. My answer to that was a flap pocket that showed a solid colour and I was thinking some sort of trim or bias binding might help ground the skirt too and make it more versatile. I just wanted something perfectly kitchy cute to wear with a simple singlet or tank top on those hot, hot, hot Aussie summer days.
I know I am a minority but I tend to avoid pockets in skirts. There, I said it! Mostly because I shove my hands in them and then do very dorky looking and inelegant poses. I need no help to look derpy, it comes completely naturally. But Melody’s skirts were there in my mind and I’d always liked those vintage-y flap kind of pockets. If I was going to have a pocket, this would be it. I had to do it! I’m pretty sure most of Melody’s skirts are gathered or pleated but you should know my usual is a half circle skirt (now in a slightly longer length) is my go to. I whizzed one up out of some lightweight, red and white gingham. Again, I was thinking summer and wanted something breezy. I gave it the usual bias binding hem treatment, red bias on the inside, if you are curious. I know I said a bias on the outside might ground things but then an opportunity arose….
I hadn’t planned on ric rac at the bottom but Mum found 6m of wide black ric rac in her sewing kit and I just had to add it at the hem. Plus I thought that adding black into the mix would make for easier mixing and matching later – black top and done! I used the same method as my rows of ric rac skirt but this time I had to join two lengths of ric rac together. If the ric rac was smaller, I would have just overlapped the pieces as I stitched them down on the skirt and hit the cut ends with fray check but this needed a bit more. Since this was pretty big ric rac, I aligned the ‘wave’ with the cut edges over lapping. I stitched from one side of the bump to the other with a tight zig zag. I trimmed the excess and hit the cut ends with fray check. As per the rows of ric rac skirt, I attached the ric rac before I stitched up the back seam.
On to the point of this post, the pockets! I love this kind of flap pocket, it’s so very vintage. It reminds me of Grandmas pinny’s (Pinny = pinafore = full apron) and I’ve always wanted to give them a go. I chose some red cotton as the pocket lining, to provide some grounding contrast, as this will also be seen on the front as the flap part. I played around with various pocket sizes because I wanted a reasonably sized flap and needed to scale the pocket to suit. I decided 8” by 10.5” or 20cm by 27cm it just looked right to me. They ended up slightly different because I used the gingham squares as a cutting line. I cut out 2 x gingham and 2 x red cotton pieces this size. As always, if you can get a cat to sit on your fabric and refuse to move, all the better (even though it looks pink, Mr Pyjamas is sitting on my red fabric).
I paired each plain cotton piece with it’s gingham counterpart, right sides together. I pinned around, leaving a hand sized gap for turning out, on one of the short sides. I stitched around, just to the edge of my presser foot, being sure to leave the gap. I trimmed down the seams and cut close to the corners, being sure not to cut my stitches.
I turned both pockets right side out, being sure to poke out the corners nicely. I pressed the pockets neatly and made sure to tuck in the seam allowance of the turning gap. Now, decide on how to place your flap and when you are happy, press it down. You can totally leave things here but if you do, you’ll want to secure the flap but either topstitching or a few hand stitches. Of course, I went for more embellishment…
I thought it would be nice to add the ric rac to the pocket too. I grabbed some scraps of ric rac and arranged them on the pocket flap. Ric rac can flex, in the way of bias binding, so I folded it up at the corners until it looked right and pinned it down. I also folded the ric rac to the back side of the pocket, where it came to the edge. I stitched it down, being careful to make sure my stitches would hold things neatly at the edges and at the pointed corner. I trimmed any excess trim from the back and hit the cut edge with fray check. As I said, if you don’t want ric rac or other trim around the edge you can simple top stitch the flap down.
With my pockets pretty much as I wanted them (I wasn’t sure if I’d add a button too) I was ready to align them on the skirt. Since I made a half circle skirt, the centre front has a straight line of checks in the gingham. If you made yours differently, your checks may be in a completely different (and quite possibly easier) way. I had Mum help me work out the best spot to pin them on and they didn’t stay where they are in pics. I wanted them to look cute and I was also trying to pattern match the best I could. To make sure I had them even on both sides, I folded the skirt in half so I could feel through the fabric and be sure that the pockets were aligned. My cat supervisor was literally on the job and helped me get everything in a mess straight. I top stitched the pockets in place, sewing from the top edge fr the flap, right around to the other side of the flap. This top stitch not only holds the pocket on, it closes up the turning gap you left at the bottom. And that’s it, pockets on!
Just like me, I was getting ready and planned to wear the skirt but when I tried it on it needed the buttons! In a snap, I decide that big buttons would look awesome. Go big or go home! This skirt will have all the bells and whistles! Don’t you think there’s something nice about an oversized button and jumbo ric rac together? So I whipped the skirt off and hastily hand stitched a huge button on to each of the pocket flaps. Sorry, no pics but you know how to sew a button. Then I was ready to quickly admire my work and get on with the day. Or maybe just go dancing in the streets!
This is the kitschy, vintage inspired skirt of my dreams! I am so glad I decided to go with black ric rac and flap pockets and big buttons because together the really add a dose of kitsch that comes off as deliberate, rather than too Becky Home Ecc-y. The solid red pocket lining and black details provide that grounding and make this skirt really easy to pair with existing things in my wardrobe. I might even be a pocket convert, if they can all be fold over patch pockets! Now all I need it a bit more warm weather….
Other Outfit Details
DIY Cherry Shoes (Worn w Black Gingham)
DIY Fruits & Flowers Headpiece (Worn w Black Gingham)
DIY Pom Pom Shrug (Worn w Black Gingham)
Gingham Headband – Kmart Australia
Black Hoop Earrings – eBay
Red Cat Brooch – gift from my Sister
Bangles – Retrorespection & Op Shop
Carved Wooden Cherry Mules – Crafts Hawaii
2 Comments
[…] the colours are so vibrant! I also did something a little different with the pockets, inspired by Ask Sarah (who hilariously was inspired by me!) You can’t see the gold button on the folder, but […]
Oh I love this skirt! How wonderful that we can inspire each other even though we are oceans apart and have never met. Let’s have a virtual tea party and show off our skirts xxx