Birthday Skirt

I had enough of the blue fabric left from Niamh's dress to make a skirt for Veronica. I therefore put the smocked dress I had intended for her on hold and launched into the skirt. I wanted to see if I could use the geometric weave of the fabric as a guide for smocking - a bit like counterchange smocking, which uses the lines of gingham as a guide.

I began with a line of stem stitch around the top in blue, then three rows of half-space waves.

It wasn't too difficult to do - but the effect was much more ruched than traditional smocking where there are sharp pleats. Nor did it give the tight effect of counterchange smocking.



I added a band at the waist, leaving a small plaquet on the side, which I secured with velcro. I didn't think there was sufficient elasticity to put on and off comfortably.







You can see the ruching effect here in truer colour.

I felt it needed a bit of complementary hem decoration, so used the same pink thread to embroider a line of open chain stitch around the bottom.

It is a simple, colourful, easy skirt with a bit of texture interest. It is not an heirloom piece, but will get a lot of wear over summer.

Veronica tried it with a couple of pre-existing smocked tops before settling on a tshirt (good choice, I reckon). My phone battery went flat before I could capture her twirling!