Newspaper Skirt

Satisfying my steampunk/dieselpunk addiction

Posted by So

About

I´ve seen this faboulous some kind of steampunk skirt in Lip Service spring preorder, but i live in germany and have not much money (usps is insane too!). also, i don´t like brown pleather...
so, i decided to make my own version of the skirt.
i bought two shirts with newspaper print, cut out stripes, dyed them with coffee and gathered them. Than i sewed on lace trim.
The yoke is made of black twill. The shape reminds of a garter :)
i sewed on eyelet tape on the outside and inside. You can close them with a clasp for (a little) gathering.

edit how-to: i didn´t take photos while i made this skirt, but i did my very best in illustrator to draw the pattern roughly. It isn´t the original size, but i made some measurements for orientation!!!!
i know i´m definitely not the best in explaining things, if you try to make the skirt anyway and don´t get it ask me and i´ll try to explain it until you can wear it!!!

edit 07.09.2010: attachment function works, so i uploaded the illustrations again... yes, i know i didn´t get it and uploaded the skirt twice, but i don´t know how to remove it...

Share

You Will Need (7 things)

  • 2 T Shirt with newspaper print
  • Interlining
  • 2 ½ m Eyelet Tape
  • 1 Zipper
  • 4 Buckle(s)
  • 4 m Lace Trim
  • Twill i used black for the yoke and white for the skirt

Steps (8 steps, 720 minutes)

  1. 1

    Making the pattern:
    If you have a basic pattern or a pattern for a pencil skirt or something, it´ll be no problem. The only other way is to draw it roughly and try it on until it fits :)

    Anyway, I have a basic pattern with my measurements which is up to the waist. I reduced the skirt to somekind of “hipster skirt”, decided the shape and the length of the yoke and put the dart in the dividing seam I created with that pike.
    As I have a bigger difference between waist and hips there are two darts in the back. The first I put in the dividing seam, the other I left at its position.

    The skirt originally was straight, but I wanted the skirt to fall a bit wavy so I added some width. If you want it really wavy you can do a circular skirt as well.

    In addition, the upper edge of the skirt will be right at the upper edge (but between the two layers) of the yoke! I didn´t attach the skirt at the lower edge of the yoke like you can do it with a "normal" skirt!!

  2. 2

    Cut
    2 Front Yoke on fold
    4 Front side
    4 Back
    4 Back side
    1 Skirt Front on fold
    2 Skirt Back

    The upper edges of the skirts and the yokes need interlining.
    If you wonder why I cut parts for two yokes: one is for facing, so the inside will be neat too!! :)
    The side seams of the skirt and the lower edge of the facing yoke you can finish with a serger (or use zigzag).

    after that, i dyed the skirts and the t-shirts with coffee. Michelle G has a how-to somewhere on the page for it!!

  3. 3

    For the ruffles, mark lines on the skirt where you want them to be. Measure these lines, decide on how much length you want to add for ruffling. I added about 1 ½ times (e.g. length 90cm -> 90+135=225cm) Don´t forget that you need seam allowances.

    When you´ve decided how much, how wide, how long your ruffles should be, cut them and sew on some lace trim. Baste along two parallel seams on the top and pull the underthreads to create ruffles.

  4. 4

    Close the seams of the skirt, but in the back leave some cm open for the zipper.

    The ruffle nearest the bottom you can sew together to a circle and sew it to the skirt.
    The other two ruffles you can sew to the skirt but pay attention that you have to insert the zipper later, so leave some cm unsewn at the center back.

  5. 5

    Close the dividing and side seams of the yokes, turn the seam allowance of the lower edge of the fronside yoke inside. Measure how much eyelet tape you need, stitch it on the dividing seams of the frontside.
    Sew the facing yoke to the upper edge of the frontside yoke..

  6. 6

    Pin the yoke to the skirt. Now you can add the zipper to the skirt. Don´t forget to insert the ruffles in the seam allowance for the zipper. My second ruffle is longer as the gap for the zipper so added the upper part to the seam allowance and left the bottom outside and sewed it later.

  7. 7

    Add some eyelet tape to the facing-yoke. I pinned the buckle to the end of the tape, attached it to the eyelet tape I already sewed to the frontside yoke, flipped it through the skirt and pinned it to the pike of the facing yoke. Now you have the length of the second eylet tape strip!

  8. 8

    Pin the yokes together from outside and sew through all layers.