Spring Sewing

...You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

You visit the earth and water it;

you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

you provide their grain,

for so you have prepared it.

You water its furrows abundantly,

settling its ridges,

softening it with showers,

and blessing its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty;

your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

they shout and sing together for joy...

~from Psalm 65~

Winter's last moments - through the years.

March is a stormy month, a wrestle between winter and warmth here in the High Desert. Last year we had 70 degree weather for a bit, and the year before that we had snow. It's unpredictable!

We're still lookin' dry over here, but it's been raining and snowing quite a bit. In another month or two, it will look more like this!

I have done a rather small amount of clothes-making this year, hence my long absence on the blog. Handwork has made up the majority of my sewing, as I finish a quilt top I've been making for...two years? now. But with Spring coming, certain fabrics in my collection have called to me to be played with. 

Introducing my first Spring '25 project!

This simple paneled skirt was a lovely way to ease into spring sewing. It was finished in an evening and was delightfully uncomplicated!

Isn't that interesting fabric? My favorite thing about it is that it lends itself to so many blouses! Red, white, two shades of green, that lovely baby pink, yellow, orange...And yet it does not make you look like a walking rainbow.

My skirt has 8 panels, a simple waistband, and a short zipper in the back. I used my pinking shears to cut most of my panel-bottoms, so I only turned the hem over once when I hemmed the skirt. 

This is the first skirt I've made with pockets!! Definitely one of my favorite features of this skirt!

I have drawn some diagrams for the basics of a pieced skirt. Hopefully they will be useful!

Below are close-ups of a few of the sketches:

To make a fitted skirt like this, it's important to take a waist measurement. You then divide that number by how many sections you wish to have in your skirt. If you have a waist measurement of 30" and you plan to use 10 sections in your skirt, each should be 3" at the top - but don't forget the seam allowance! I like to allow myself 1/2" seam allowance, so I would add a whole 1" to the measurement and make each panel 4" wide. The bottom of your triangle-like shape can be as wide as you want! The wider it is, the more flared and swirly your skirt will be - fun, huh?

Sew your panels together into a skirt, right sides together of course. You can leave ~6" (or however long your zipper is) unsewn at the top of one of your seams to insert your zipper into. 

When you've finished sewing the seams, (but before you put your zipper in!) and are ready to make your waistband, measure it to your completed skirt top (+ seam allowance) and sew a "tube" of fabric that length - and however wide you want it. Mine is about 3/4" wide. 

If you want the inside of your skirt to look finished, you can follow this tutorial for a few different waistband options. I was not very particular about the inside of this skirt, especially since I used pinking shears to cut most of my pieces, so I attached my ironed "tube" as seen in the diagram above. I put right sides together and sewed it on, then folded it back to show a beautiful smooth waistband! Then I attached my zipper. 

There are many tutorials online for attaching zippers, so I will not kink up my brain trying to write on the subject. You know how zippers are.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading! 

I hope to be back soon with more spring sewing.

Miss Humphrey