Ruffled Skirt

You'll never believe where I found the inspiration for this skirt......drumroll, please....Pinterest! Yeah, seems to be where I get a lot of ideas these days. I saw this skirt, which was pinned from this Etsy shop. She makes gorgeous skirts there, but I was not going to be paying $75+ for one. Being crafty can be sort of annoying sometimes. You see something you love, and you tell yourself 'I could make that!' and a lot of times, you never do. But I really loved this skirt and had to make it. I found just the right a-line skirt pattern and used that as a springboard. I had been saving this awesome herringbone-style fabric for just the right project, and I found some blue corduroy to go with it. The ruffles are about a zillion miles of hemmed and pleated strips. Let me tell you, $75 is a good price for the time put in making all the pleats! For the top layer, I used the same skirt pattern, but redrafted the front for the tulip shape. The buttons are these awesome vintage mother-of-pearl numbers with a little bit of carving on them. I added a side-lap zipper on the left side, which was a modern day feat of engineering since the corduroy later and the ruffled layer are sewn in such a way to be self facing...clear as mud?! I just made the thing up as I went along, basically. I really love how it turned out and if it weren't for all the darn pleats I would crank out another one right away. Maybe next time I'll be smart enough to take pictures before I get the skirt all creased up. Sheesh!