Purple Pom Pom Explosion Skirt

So I have this skirt from Modcloth, and it's the best basic retro skirt ever. Whenever I post pictures
of me in it (which is often, because it foes with freaking everything), I get tons of questions about it. Naturally, this being a sewing blog, people assume I made it. How embarrassing to admit that I didn't! (Any seamstress will relate to this feeling, I'm sure.) Because, while I didn't make it, I surely could have! It's just two circle skirts sewn together at the waistband. It doesn't even have a lining!

Paired with Pink Floral Casual Blouse

Paired with Purple Floral Knit Top

To regain my pride, I decided to make my own version of the skirt. Is it a nice, neutral basic like the original? I'm afraid not. It's done in a purple atomic print with yards and yards of pom pom trim and a purple lace-trimmed lining. I always felt like the original design was a missed opportunity to call out the double hem with a trim, and I'm currently obsessed with pom poms, so it was a natural pairing.

Here's how I did it. I made two circle skirt patterns for my waist size (I always get out my copy of my first book to remember how to do this, but there are instructions all over the internet too). One skirt pattern is 24.5" long and the other is 22.5" long. I cut the longer skirt pattern out in the atomic print, and then cut the shorter skirt pattern out in the atomic print and the lining. You'll need a front and a back for each layer of skirt. As you can imagine, this takes a lot of fabric. But the feeling of fullness with the three layers is fantastic.

Sew all the side seams, leaving an opening on one side of each layer for a zipper. I inserted an invisible side sip into the short atomic layer only. We'll call this the "outer layer" now. Then place the lining into the long atomic skirt, wrong sides together and baste around the top and the zipper opening. Clip into the seam allowances at the base of the zipper opening (this allows you to turn them in and slipstitch to the zipper tape.) We'll treat this unit as the "lining layer" from here on out.

Drop the lining layer into the outer layer and baste them together around the waistline. Turn in the zipper opening seam allowances on the lining lining and slip stitch them to the zipper tape.

Next, I made a waistband! It's two inches high and has a one inch underlap for the button fastening. I inserted petite pom pom trim into the top and bottom of the waistband (tutorial here).



Next, I let the skirt hang for almost 48 hours on my dress form to let the bias settle. Finally, I evened up the hemlines on all three layers (the bias stretched quite a bit on the cotton sateen, but not on the lining). I made sure that the bottom layer was still exactly two inches longer than the top layer. I serged the bottom of each outer layer, then basted large pom pom trim to the very edge, with the pom poms facing upwards. Warning: get 10.5 yards of pom pom trim for this! I had 10 and just barely eked it out. Flip the pom poms trim to the inside of the skirt and then top stitch in place.



I serged purple lace to the lining hem. I love how all the layers look together!

Do a button and buttonhole on the waistband, and that's it! An explosion of purple and pom poms that's surprisingly wearable.

Hey, I also got new glasses! I couldn't find a decent cateye anywhere so I ordered these frames from Victory Optical and had my prescription put in. I love them so much. 

I'm dying to make a version of this skirt in plain black with pom poms. Adding it to the project queue! (I found an Etsy shop that sells pom pom trim in bulk for a really great price. You have to wait for it to come from Asia, but it may well be worth it. I'll let you know!)