This is a pretty giant plaid, huh? I originally bought this fabric from Denver Fabrics, anticipating a cute little plaid dress (view A of Vogue 8667, to be precise), but once I actually got the fabric in my greedy little hands I realized I was not in the mood to match that enormous repeat. So the fabric went into my stash – for a year (or has it been two?) When I went through my big fabric reorganization effort, I pulled out the plaid yet again and wondered what the heck I could do with it.
Make a circle skirt, duh!
I’ll keep this recap simple: I used my self-drafted circle skirt pattern, courtesy of Casey’s sew-along. My plaid was big enough where I didn’t have to cut any seams – it’s just a circle with a little circle in the middle! I lined it in bright yellow Bemberg rayon – also no seams, yaaaay – and sewed 3″ horsehair braid at the bottom for a nice floof. The waistband is interfaced with horsehair interfacing (lots of horsies went into the making of this skirt, it would seem…), which I opted to top-stitch down to keep it from stretching out (something my previous circle skirt has been slowly doing, sadly, despite stay-stitching and everything). The back is closed with a button. Besides letting the thing hang for 48 hours, this was a really quick project!
IT’S SO BRIGHT.
Some yellow lining for your troubles
In all it’s circular glory
lol I tried to take a twirl shot… it sort of worked out…
I guess you want to see it without the belt, huh? I cut the waistband on the bias to avoid doing any plaid-matching.
Here’s the back. That bright yellow line is actually the bright yellow zipper – if I’d known it was going to stand out so much, I would have made a better attempt to hide it in the plaid design. O well.
I finished this up on Friday night & wore it to the Flea Market on Saturday… these pictures were taken post-Flea (hence my frazzled hair). I went onward with two things in mind – buttons for the Violet blouse, and yellow lace for this skirt. And look – the gods of the Flea Market were smiling down on me!
No pictures of me wearing it all lacy-like, though. SORRY.
Speaking of the Flea Market, ahem…
Check out my haul trolololol
I’m not going to post every single thing I picked up, but here are my two favorite patterns-
Slip!
Pants!
All kinds of notions & buttons! I am the most excited about the bound buttonhole maker – I’ve been looking for one of these babies for a few months now! I don’t even know how much I paid for it because it was in a giant bag of stuff for $4. Also excited about those little flower buttons on the bottom – there are several in that container, although they are dirty as hell so they will definitely be getting a good cleaning soon.
Well I think I just ran out of things to say so I’m just going to end this here.
Bye!
LLADYBIRD 
Oooh I love the plaid with the yellow. What a fun skirt! And I’m totally jealous of your flea market finds. Swoon!
I’m a Nashvillian too. Is this the Nashville Flea Market? Do they usually have good amount of sewing stuff?
Love the skirt!
It’s the Tennessee State Flea Market – the big one at the fairgrounds at the end of every month. It’s pretty hit-or-miss – sometimes I come home with giant bags of stuff, sometimes I don’t find anything. You just have to be willing to set a few hours aside for the dig! I also have specific vendors who set stuff aside for me 🙂 Hee!
How do you find such good stuff every time you go out of your house? The envy, it haunts me. Adore this skirt! Love the bright colors and the bias waistband.
I love all of your sewing projects! This skirt is so cute. I love the colors–bright and happy!
I’m new to the whole sewing-thing, so I have a little question for you. I notice that you use a lot of horsehair in various places of your sewing. What is it used for? I’ve seen it online at some specialty sewing shops, but not at big chain stores, so I am curious.
Thanks and keep up the lovely work! (I was a knitter first before I became a “seamstress,” so I’m also curious to know about your sweater updates.)
Thank you! Haha, yeah, I’m kind of in love with all things horsehair 🙂
Horsehair interfacing (also known as Hair Canvas) is a really nice interfacing that works really well for tailoring – it steams and molds beautifully when pad stitching. It is also really sturdy, so it’s nice to use in places that require a bit more hefty interfacing, like high waistbands or even a stand-up collar.
Horsehair braid comes in several widths, ranging from tiny 1/2″ to up to 5″, although I just use 2″ or 3″ wide. It is sewn at the hemline to give the bottom of your skirt some structure – I should have taken pictures of my skirt before I sewed in the braid, it really makes quite a difference! Gertie has a little tutorial on how to use it if that intrigues you.
And on the sweater front – I’m chugging along, very slowly! I messed up twice and had to frog both times! I’m at row 10 now.. here’s to hoping that the third time’s the charm 🙂
Wow-thanks! That was really helpful. I loved Gertie’s tutorial. And I love how your Agatha is turning out, despite all the froggings. Sometimes (sometimes…) those setbacks make the final product more special.
CUTE! I definitely think this fabric was desperate to be sewn into a circle skirt. It looks meant to be!
Your flea markets are so much better than my flea markets!
Love your skirt and your bargainous new patterns/habby.
This is probably the nicest circle skirt I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a LOT on sewing blogs since Casey’s sew along!) The length is absolutely perfect, I love it. And I can definitely see you wearing those Butterick trousers! x
It looks fantastic! I still have to make my circle skirt from the challenge.
Great flea market finds too, ours is next Sunday, hopefully there will be some sewing stuff.
Abso-bloody-lutely gorgeous! You and this skirt were made for each other ;o) As for your loot…well…I’m jealous! There, I said it!
This is freaking awesome! I love the plaid. And the lining? Swoon! And flea market finds?! This is a bit too much for me pre-work. I might need to go have a lie down 😀
So cute, I love circle skirts! And what a great haul too
Awesome skirt!
Super cute! Love the big sassy plaid!
Twirlie-tastic! So if there’s no seams how did you get the zipper in ?? Did you just cut a slot for it please 🙂 (I’m curious LOL!)?
P.S. Awesome haul of stuff – and the buttonhole maker whoa, thta’s good sewing karma to get it in a random bag for on $4! Those suckers go for sooooo much on eBay/Etsy these days.
You are correct – I basically just cut a slot in there for the zipper. Here is the method I used – the one for the slot zipper, I mean. It’s pretty easy, although if you do this on a bulky-ish fabric, you will want to face it with something much lighter, like muslin.
I can’t believe those button hole makers go for so much! Wtf! Who is paying those prices?!?
Ahhh… *light bulb goes off inside head* I get it! Thanks for the link to Casey’s tute! 🙂
Aaah! I am so jealous. WHERE was this flea market action? I love those patterns and notions you picked up.
Also, that plaid circle skirt? Adorable! I need to make one..now.
Nashville! See? Everyone should visit Nashville… lots of good stuff here 🙂 lol
Beautiful skirt! I think it’s high time I made a circle skirt for myself. Definitely my favorite silhouette.
Your skirt is fierce you are totally owning her and your $4 habby find? well that’s what you get for being a fabulous seamstress.
I just bought that Slip pattern too. Waiting for it to make its way from America to Australia. Love it.
you are so neat in what you make, you’ve got a great eye for what suits you too. Gorgeous!! It seems hard to believe that there are no seams! Score! I like your approach for the waistband- getting around matching the plaid would have been my goal too!- but it looks so nice on the bias it could have been a style choice. And cannot ever believe what you pick up at flea markets! For such few $ !!
YAY! PLAID is my favoritest!! I have a huge tartan fabric in my stash and this may be the perfect idea!!!
That is one gorgeous make. No seams? Happy days. I can’t believe what you got in your haul. You know, I think one of your trouser/pant patterns may be the same as a vintage pattern TillyandtheButtons owns – the one with the woman wearing green pants and a neckerchief.
love it. so much.
Wow. I don’t know where to start. The skirt is so beautiful and I love your styling! It is perfection and really inspiring to me.
Your haul: Those patterns are so you! I can’t wait to see what you make from them!
supercute!
It’s adorable! How cool that you were able to cut the skirt without any seams?! I think this plaid is great for a circle skirt, too.
What a huge haul from your flea market! I’m envious as always.. 🙂
I could totally see you rocking out those little Butterick pants with the mod top, too.
I always want EVERYTHING you make, Lauren… that is a fabulous skirt! I’m also super tempted to check out my local flea market but the last thing I really need is more stash… SO tempting though!
This is so lovely, it looks awesome on you! I am just learning about horsehair braid from what other people have written about it, and it is quite an ingenious little touch! The yellow lace is most definitely the icing on the cake!
I have to say, I really wish our flea market here was as seamstress-friendly as yours… I have never once seen a vintage pattern or buttons in all the years I’ve lived here and gone to one, so…. lucky you! 🙂
I do like your skirt, with no seams and a lovely bright zipper! It looks fantastic and I can imagine the lace peeking out the hem. The colours make me smile – there is so much black and gray around.
Oh horsehair braid sounds interesting and great to use – thanks for the link to Gertie’s tute in the comments above. I’m interested to know why you decided to use horsehair interfacing rather than the petersham ribbon for your waistband? I’m a newbie so am rather fascinated by the amazing variety of notions available and their relative merits.
Hm, that’s a good question… I don’t really have an answer as to why I picked one over the other. I guess I wanted this to be a relatively quick sewing project, and I already knew exactly how to handle the horsehair interfacing with the waistband. The petersham ribbon was going to take some figuring out (as I wanted it to stabilize the waistband, not replace it entirely – I was imaging some class of waist-stay) and I just didn’t have it in me that day to try and wrap my head around it 🙂
Guess I need to find a new use for that bright yellow petersham ribbon, though! 🙂 Ha! And yes, horsehair braid is AWESOME – try it, you’ll fall in love!
I am hopping on a plane to Nashville and stealing this exact skirt out of your closet. WANT!
I seriously want to steal that skirt from you!!! I just love how bright the plaid is, and that the waistband is cut on the bias (genius). Fantastic!
What a great haul from the flea market! I’m especially in love with that Butterick pants and top pattern; they look more like what I’ve been hunting for in terms of a pants pattern (the Colette Pattern pants come close, but I’d need to raise the waistband and fiddle with all the fitting issues first… ;). Can’t wait to see that one made up! (One day… hehe!)
What a great skirt , the yellow really makes it shine.
Gorgeous skirt, and that vintage Simplicity pattern is to-die-for! What a haul!
Great skirt! That big plaid is great and the drape of the skirt is fun. Nice!
OMG I love the flea market patterns. Could you let us know the number of the Butterick pants pattern. I want to make the cute top & would like to try to track it down. Please 🙂
It’s Butterick 7557 🙂