Box pleated skirt

My focus has been completely on finishing quilt tops for the past few months.  I had the big red one and two others that I cannot share yet ( they are so cute and those I will be super happy to share!).  When the red dust had settled, I cleaned up ALL the bits and pieces that had been trailed completely throughout the house and decided I needed to make something different.  Something not a quilt.

( this is the only finish photo, Katy was NOT in the mood for taking pics)

I really adore clothes that are well fitted and flattering and can be found surfing the internet looking at ( mostly) vintage clothing for all of the features that I drool over.  My friend Brooke ( apriltwoeighty) is in LA interning with Luke and has been posting about her adventures that happened to include a box pleated skirt!  WHAT!?!  I LOVE box pleated skirts and immediately asked whet pattern she used!  She used the Merrick's Art tutorial .  It is very basic and has all the ideas that are needed to make the skirt.  So, using this tutorial I dove right in!

This is what I learned on the first go round...the pleats are what fabric is showing not what is hidden in the back ( face palm).  This skirt had 4in pleats not 2.5in pleats.

The finished skirt was perfection in the front...

However the back was as wonky as Weeble!

and I did not follow the recommended waistband sizing so I ended up with WAY too big a waist...

That's okay...this was my "trial" skirt and even though all of my sewing was perfect ( of course) I was okay with trying from scratch again.

So off I went to find what other tutorials were out there that explained a little more in depth on how to make this skirt for all different sizes and I found this youtube video Pleated Skirt Tutorial by Sara which has a more in depth explanation and some math to help make a pattern for more than one size but this can be a little tricky too using the math given in the video.  I had Katy's help me with some of the numbers and we came up with something that I felt comfortable going in and attempting.

The second skirt I used 2.5 in pleats.  I left about 1in on each end for the zipper.  Somehow, it did not work out...grrrrrr...when I placed the waistband on the skirt it was way too short.  There was no way it was going to work.  I walked away and made dinner for the people of the house and gave myself a little break to think on what my next step would be.

When I went back to the drawing board ( my cutting mat) I noticed the angled guidelines!  I was doing a happy dance!  I centred the waistband, pinned it down and then trimmed the excess fabric from either side.  I had to insecure the pleat to either side of the trimmed fabric but it was doable!

I ended up with aligned back pleats!!! WOO HOO!

I will be making more of these skirts.  They are super fast once you have the basics down and are very comfortable ( the most important part).