Pleated Skirt

 I’ve been seeing some fun denim skirts around this fall, and when I saw this herringbone print one, I knew I wanted a skirt from it. It was just too fun to pass up, since I’ve never seen one like it before. I’ve also been seeing a lot of pleated skirts around and I figured the lines of the herringbone would help me with lining up the pleats, so it seemed like a good way to go. 

I self-drafted this skirt, but I don’t really feel that I can give directions for it as easily as I did for so many others this year. However, as a guide, this is what I did: 

1. Cut out two widths of fabric 1” longer than the length I wanted. 

2. Decided how far apart, how wide and how deep I wanted my pleats (mine are about 1.25” - there’s not really a “wrong” way to do it - different sizes will get you different looks).  

3. Marked, pinned and sewed my pleats into each piece. (Though actually, this is what you SHOULD do! I got carried away ironing my pleats in to see how they looked, thinking I could sew them later, which turned out to be a TERRIBLE plan. I couldn’t get them to line up easily, and actually ended up doing a small zigzag stitch over top of them to make the pleats. It works, and looks fine, but it would be SO much easier to sew them and then do the ironing). 

4. I was able to curve the seams when I sewed the two pieces together and added the zipper to account for the difference in my waist and hips. 

The step that made the biggest difference was pressing the pleats with vinegar. I mixed a 50-50 split of white vinegar and water in my spritzer, heavily sprayed the fabric using a pressing cloth over top, and let cool completely before moving the fabric when pressing. I was highly impressed (I had never tried this before, only heard about it) - I don’t think these pleats are going anywhere! I wore this skirt to church the other week, and they are all still in place, so I will definitely be using this method again.