Floral Boho Maxi Skirt + Allyson & Brennan's Wedding, Part 2
- leggyjane
- Mar 28, 2015
- 4 min read
It's official. Allyson is now a married woman! The wedding was so beautiful I got choked up watching them walk down the aisle and exchange their vows, and again as they danced with their parents. And even now as I'm looking back at the photos. Allyson was absolutely stunning and I'm glad I got to witness such lovely event and see some old classmates as well. I also got to feel confident in this sunflowery Boho Maxi Skirt, which was surprisingly easy and inexpensive to make. I will definitely be making more of these.
The skirt started out as a small bolt of clearance fabric I bought at Hancock Fabrics for about $5. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do with it, and because of the size, my options were limited, so I began sketching out some ideas.
I also used my dress form to "visually sketch" different ideas. This is helpful if your mind prefers 3-dimensions over 2.
I finally decided just to go with a maxi skirt. I've never had one, and to be honest I wasn't sold on the whole idea either until recently. But now I just love them! They make me feel so feminine. This DIY is not to be overthought - it's literally just two panels of stretchy lightweight fabric and elastic. I used almost the whole roll of 1" wide elastic but you can use any size - which cost me about $3.
All I had to do was make sure that the width of the entire bolt of fabric was long enough to go from my actual waist to my feet, with one seam allowance. It did and then some. The length (longest edge) of the bolt (which will be around your waist) must be double or triple your waist measurement. Triple if you want it to be more gathered. Mine was somewhere in between. Then on paper, divide however long the length of your fabric is, into thirds.
1/3 of the length of the bolt will be the first panel, shown above on the right, which will make up most of the front of the skirt. Leaving a little more than half of the width unsewn for the slits. (See the image above for where to sew, indicated by X's and Hearts) 2/3 of the length of the bolt, shown above on the left, will be the back. Cut the 1/3 panel away from the 2/3. With the fabric right sides together, line up the fabric, pin, and sew along the edge, stopping where the X's indicate. Then repeat again where the Hearts indicate. You should now have what loosely resembles a giant fabric squid. Measure and cut your elastic to fit around your waist while leaving about a half an inch for seam allowance. Fold and pin the elastic on itself to look like this:
With a zigzag stitch, sew twice, once over the raw edges and again over the folded. It should look something like this:
Next, using chalk, white eyeliner, or if you're fancy a water-soluble marking pencil to mark your "fabric squid" on the inside of the waistline in quarters. You can do this by folding the skirt in half and using the slits as indicators of where the front and back of the skirt meet on each side. You'll want to do this again crossways to get fours points in equal distance from another. When you're done there should be one directly in back, one on each side, and another directly in front. Repeat the same process on the inside of the elastic band, making sure that the seam will be directly in back, and the folded side of the seam will be on the outside.
Then, line up the skirt with the elastic band using the four markings and pin the elastic on top of the top edge of the skirt in those four places, with 1/2" seam allowance.
Now for the only difficult part of this DIY. Note: If it helps you keep the fabric-to-elastic ratio even while you work on this next part, you can first pin once more between the four pins you just pinned, at each eighth mark. I found that stretching the elastic over my knees makes pinning in this step easier and more accurate. Start by sewing the elastic and fabric together to form a seam. Once you get started, stretch the elastic until the fabric and elastic are both taut. This does require some strength, especially if your sewing machine isn't built into your desk. Be careful.
Once you get all the way around, all that's left to do is tie and trim any excess thread, and maybe trim the bottom if it's too long. But otherwise that is it my friend! Why have I not made a million of these already?? :o Also, it turns out that my boyfriend has a natural gift for photography....who knew?
Me and my sweetums. A shout-out to my mom for taking these for us. ;)
The lovely gift wrap I found along with the tissue paper roses I made.
The Itinerary!
Everyone's seated and waiting for the ceremony to begin.
The groom as he waits for his bride to appear before the aisle.
The flower girl and ring bearer were just too precious!
Allyson with her dad walking down the aisle, and her momma close by.
Giving his baby girl away. So many feels! :')
The bridesmaids and groomsmen.
The rings!
Blending the sand. A hawaiian marriage tradition.
The newlyweds!!! :D
Nom nom nom...
The dance.
Congratulations Allyson and Brennan! May you have a long and happy marriage. I wish you all the best and I hope you will cherish this dedication to your affinity in your hearts forever.
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