Skirts are Easier Than Dresses

Today at work one of the women, someone older than myself, when she heard I had been sewing a lot, mentioned how relaxing it is. She is right. It still may be the only thing keeping my sanity intact. Which may explain why I am sewing more than oh say, doing the dishes.

I also sat down and did the math.

Aproximately 1 yard of fabric: $9.50
Less than a yard of elastic: $0.75
Total: $10.25



Which is clearly less than what you could find a skirt like this for either on somewhere like Etsy, or better yet, at a place like the Gap. Other than having to use a zig zag instead of a serged finish on the seams, really not much difference in construction.

Balance it all out with the stress relief of sewing, and getting to pick out exactly what she gets instead of being at the mercy of designers that clearly don't have kids, and I would say it is almost paying me. Cheaper than therapy for sure. Even after the $9.99 cost for the cool pattern from Frog Legs & Ponytails.

Speaking of that. I've purchased two skirt patterns off of Etsy in the past few days. One being the above mentioned and another that I will not mention because frankly I didn't like it. Instead, I'll talk about what I did like about the FL&P one. The directions were very clear, and I think someone who wasn't an experienced sewer would have no problem following along. Unlike the Portabello Pixie's (the dress I made last weekend) pattern that lumped a bunch of serging in with a "beginner" pattern, this one mentioned it, but offered clear alternatives for those of us with more basic equipment. The other thing I really like is that she explains some more advanced finishing techniques. Things like top stitching can make something handmade look way more professional.

I will definitely get full use out of the pattern. I already have plans to make more of them. The first one was big hit.