Peppermint Swirl Skirt

Peppermint Swirl Fabric

When I saw this fabric, I knew that it was just what I had been looking for, for a project I was itching to try.  I fell in love with the combination of the crisp, candy-cane colours and the light, floaty texture, (the fabric is a cotton voile).

As I feed my crafty-blog addiction, there are so many tutorials that I bookmark, as possible projects to try.  This one fell into the rare category of clever tutorials that I wanted to try as soon as possible.  So I did.

"Peppermint Swirl Skirt" made using the "Tablecloth skirt" tutorial

It was Lara’s skirt that inspired me, but I must admit that the name of the tutorial can give the wrong impression. It is called the “Tablecloth skirt” which makes it sound like it has been made using a tablecloth, which does happen, but not in this case (if you google “Tablecloth Skirt” you will mostly find this type of garment).  It is not actually referring to the choice of fabric either, although my choice can certainly qualify as “tableclothy”.

Opposite Corners of the "Tablecloth Skirt"

It refers to the shape, which is boxy, I think the shape is better described as being like a fitted sheet with no elastic on the edge.  If the bed was square and you cut a hole in the centre, for your waistband, then that is the shape exactly.  Above you can see me holding the opposite corners of the square.  Usually I am scared off from making things with checks or plaid, because you have to attempt to match the pattern at the seams.  What I loved about this was that not-matching the pattern makes it more interesting, as it makes the unusual shape more apparent.

The folds in the skirt need to be distributed more evenly

In this photo you can see that the folds can fall a little unevenly, unless you take care to distribute them evenly along the waistband, and fix then there, which I have since done.  When I wore this yesterday, for the first time, I received many complements, mainly I think, because it is a little different from the skirts that are in the shops at the moment.

If you would like to try making this skirt, follow this tutorial.  I altered the dimensions, so here are my skirt’s vital statistics… I used exactly 2.5 m (2.73 yards) of fabric.  The centre square measures 42″ square.  The four side-rectangles measure 42″ x 16″.  I used a seam allowance of 1/2″.  I’m not telling you the waistband measurements, but make sure that it is cut to your hip measurement, so that you can get it on!  I’m 5’7″ – so alter your other measurements according to your height, and how long you want the sides of the “box” to be (I wanted mine to be a fair bit longer than the original tutorial).

Give it a go – it is really fun and easy!

 

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