diy: circle skirt sew-along

I am so excited to (finally!) announce I’ll be hosting another sew-along here at Elegant Musings! If you were here for the voting we did last winter on what sew-along to do first, you’ll know that the Swing Dress and a circle skirt were the contenders. The Swing Dress won out, but I have gotten so many emails and requests since then (literally once-a-week!) for a circle skirt or “beginner level” sew-along. It’s a great sew-along because it can be as simple or complicated as you’d like, and is perfect if you’re rather new to sewing and want to try out a few different techniques. The basis of the circle skirt sew-along will be on this how-to I posted previously, with a few tweaks from me (we won’t be using the base pattern that is supplied in the article). I’ll be covering everything from supplies and fabric, to drafting your skirt pattern, adding a waistband and zipper, and hemming. They’ll be lots of tips and tricks packed in each post, and of course I’ll be happy to answer questions and troubleshoot if you run into a hiccup. Because this style is essentially a blank canvas, I think it’ll appeal to both beginner and advanced sewers. Those new to sewing can stick with the basics: selecting pretty fabric and focus on learning the techniques that we’ll go over (drafting a custom pattern, adding a straight waistband, inserting a zipper, sewing a baby hem). More intermediate to advanced sewers may want to expand their project with surface embellishment (applique, soutache, embroidery), quilting, creative hem edges, wider waistbands, piecing, etc. I’ll be posting about inspiration shortly, so hopefully that will get your creative juices flowing! Here is the tentative schedule for the sew-along: August 24: sew-along announcement (that’s today!) August 26: inspiration and details August 27: taking measurements (yes, we have to do this before buying fabric!) August 29: suitable fabrics & supplies September 2: drafting the circle skirt September 7: laying out and cutting the skirt pieces September 9: sewing the side seams and inserting the zipper (various methods) September 12: constructing and attaching the waistband September 14: hemming (machine and hand-stitched methods) September 16: bonus post on petticoats (a tutorial is tentatively planned) September 21: circle skirt party! I’ve given a gap of about 10 days between the supply list post and the first drafting post, so those who have to mail order their materials have time to do so. That was one problem I ran into with the last sew-along, and I hope will be remedied in this one! Since this is a fairly easy project to draft and sew, the schedule is otherwise fairly grouped together (about three posts a week). We should be done within a month. As with the last sew-along, I’ve also set up a Flickr group to post your pictures to. We’ll also be doing a circle skirt party at the end to show off our new creations. Unlike the last sew-along, I’d love to actually showcase some of the pictures of finished skirts here, so be prepared for me to have a “call for submissions” towards the end of this sew-along! Below are buttons if you’d like to post one on your blog during the sew-along; please save to your own computer and upload to your own hosting space. Feel free to link back to www.elegantmusings.com/tag/circle-skirt-sew-along if you’d like! I’m looking forward to a launch of a new sew-along and group project with you!!! Please feel free to comment below with any questions (please note those that have to do with supplies and such will be dealt with as the appropriate posts go up), or just to say you’re joining in!