DIY DVF Inspired Side Zip Mini Skirt

There is a certain thing about exposed zippers that entice me, and DVF made a fabulous skirt with a full length side zipper that I want to replicate. Here it goes!!!!!

First, make a pattern. I use wax paper from the kitchen. Measure your waist and hips, and add the amount of ease that you want. I added 2 inches.  Those are thee new waist and hip measurements. We are going to draft half the back and half the front, because it is going to be cut on the fabric fold.
 Now, the back needs to be a little bigger than the front, so it can fit nicely.  First the front.
Draw a straight line for the waist, It should be 1/4 of the measurement of the waist, plus .5 inch. that is to leave fabric for the darts and seam allowances.  Check on your body, or with a ready made skirt or dress, where you want the darts. Mine are 5 inches from the center. Draw the darts, about 5 inches long, 1 inch wide,  from the waist edge down.  Now mark the hip width. About 7 inches  down  from the waist line, mark a point 1/4  minus .5 inch of the hip measurement. Connect the waist line to the hip point and extend the line to the desired skirt length.
Do the same for the back pattern, but add 2.5 inches to the waist measurement, and 1 inch to the hip  point.  Draw the darts in the same place.
Cut waist facings. To do that, pin the darts in the front and back pattern and trace the new "finished" waist length and shape. It should be slightly curved.

 Cut one front and one back pieces on the fold.  Cut the center back open, to allow for adjustments if necessary. Cut the facings.

 Apply fusible interfacing to the facings. Sew the facings at the right side seam. Finish the bottom edge of the facing. I used a serger.

 Pin the darts, at the point and at the waist, and sew from the waist to the point. Press to the center seam.  Sew the back center seam and the right side seam.

 Pin the facing to the skirt, right sides together, and sew.

Now for the fun part, the zippered left side seam. You need a separating zipper about the length of the finished skirt. Mine is 18 inches.       

 Sew the zipper, right sides together, to the front part of the skirt. Use a zipper foot, and sew about 1/4 inch from the teeth, so you can see a little bit of the zipper when worn.

 Fold to the inside and press. Now Sew the  zipper to the back part of the skirt, in the same way. Turn the facing to the inside and topstitch in place.

Hem your skirt.  

Leave your comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DIY Alice + Olivia Inspired Peplum Top

Have you seen the SS 11 Alice and Olivia peplum top? It is a gorgeous knit top, black and white striped fabric, and they also made a solid color one, I believe in white or coral pink. Hefty price tag of $200.00.
I decided to give it a try and DIY!!!!!!!! Here is the tutorial.

It was mission impossible to find a black and white striped jersey or knit,  and I found this synthetic fabric, that is stretchy, in my local fabric store. For the pattern, I took an old T shirt that fits well, but that its useful life is over, and cut it at the seams, that gave me a perfect pattern.

 Fold the pattern pieces in the middle, and cut on the fold, adding seam allowances of 0.5 inch or so. Align the stripes on both pattern pieces, back and front, at the underarm seam, so the stripes match when you sew it.
Cut a front neck facing and a back neck facing. It should be about 1.5 inches wide, and it should follow the contour of the neck.

Sew the side seams, shoulder seams, and sew the sleeves short end. Set the sleeves and sew.





The peplum is cut like a circle. The small circle's circumference is the measurement of the top at the waist, For mine it was 32 inches. Use a compass to draw this circle. If you don't have a compass, like me, you need to calculate the radius of the circle, to use a string to trace it, use an internet calculator, or good old math. mine was about 5.4 inches. Cut a string with your measurement, attach one end to a stick, another to a marking pen, using adhesive tape. Pivot the stick in the center of the fold, and trace the half circle. Mark the center. For the outside cut, add about 8 inches to the string, and repeat. Cut out the circle. It looks like a doughnut.

 With right sides together, pin the peplum to the top, at the level where you want it to be. Match the center of the circle to the center back and the center front.  My top was cut long, to allow for adjustment, so I cut the excess fabric.
Sew the peplum in place.

Sew the short sides of the neck facings together, pin it to the top with right sides together, and sew. 

 Top stitch in place from the right side.

 Hem the peplum, and the sleeves, and wear proudly!!!!!!!! Now I just need a cute skirt to go with it!


Leave a comment if you like it, and follow my blog, I will post more creative things soon.