Fun with Shapes -- Pt. 2

Welcome to Part Two of the Fun with Shapes series. On the menu today: the humble rectangle. For this section I will be focusing on skirts, but we may revisit the rectangle again in another post. It may come as a surprise to some that beautiful, full skirts often start out as a straight strip of fabric. Today I'll show you how to create a pleated skirt, and a full skirt using just that. I'll also show how to adjust the fullness of your skirt.

To begin, choose the fabric you'd like to work with. Non-stretch fabrics will work best for this particular lesson. Cut the fabric to it's desired length, beginning at the doll's waist (note: this will appear as the 'width' of your strip).

The fullness of your skirt will depend on how long a piece of fabric you cut. For very full skirts and pleated skirts make sure to give yourself plenty of room. Any remaining fabric can be cut after your skirt is fitted to the doll. Quickly make a loose zig-zag stitch across the top and bottom edges of your fabric to keep it from unraveling.

To make the pleated skirt:

Lay out the fabric. Make evenly-spaced folds, pin both ends to hold. When you think you have enough, wrap the skirt around the doll to size it. When you have the desired look (and amount of pleats) iron to press and hold the folds. Unpin the bottom of your skirt. *Be sure to stitch across the top before removing pins after you have pressed the fabric. Make all hems before pleating!

To make the full skirt:

To gather sew two rows of stitching across the top making sure one side is left open (no backstitching) while the other side is secured (backstitched). Make sure to leave long tails of threads to hold on to. Grab on to the top two threads of the open end (not the bobbin threads on the underside). Gently slide the fabric along the stitching. Continue this gradually until you have the desired fullness. The tighter the gathering, the full the skirt will be.

This same effect can be applied to thinner strips of fabric to create ruffles which you can then attach to the skirt (as in the yellow Barbie skirt). I will create an entire post about constructing and putting the skirts together in the near future.