5/3/11: Five Perfectly Pretty Skirts

Have you ever heard of the Perfectly Pretty Skirt that is sold by the clothing line, DownEast Basics? According to my sister, it is an annual skirt of the clothing line that they make new every year. Here's their 2011 skirt:

And the 2010 was this one:

They are pretty, aren't they?

It is this special skirt that started a whole new sewing project for me.

Last December I picked up a few yards of this big, modern floral print from Fabric.com. It is a stretch twill.

And I bought it with one thing in mind: to replicate the 2010 Perfectly Pretty Skirt for my sister since she fell head over heels for it. :)

So when I finally had a bit of sewing freedom about a week ago, I decided to begin working on the skirt for her. I thought it should be easy-peasy. . . It looked like a simple skirt to make and I even bought a couple yards of black chiffon to make that unique bottom layer.

But little did I know--or maybe in the back of my mind, I did--that my sister has an imagination. An imagination that has the ability to create five, yes five, Perfectly Pretty Skirts. If DownEast Basics had her as an employee, they wouldn't have to worry till 2016.

Here is a glimpse of the five I'm talking about:

To keep things interesting as well as organized, I gave each skirt a Hollywood inspired name:

Grace Kelly

Audrey Hepburn

Hailey Mills

Judy Holliday

and Joan Fontaine

I may not do them all anytime soon, but I definitely do have the goal in mind. They all sound very tempting to execute! The two skirts my sister was most drawn to were the Audrey Hepburn and Judy Holliday skirts. So I will be starting with these two.

The Audrey Hepburn skirt is a tapered pencil skirt that has a high waistband, kick pleat, and I will be using the floral print I mentioned earlier. Here's a fashion sketch I drew:

I've already found a suitable sewing pattern to base it off of. It is Vogue 9668 and I will be using the skirt and midriff pieces of the middle view. I also will be converting the back bottom slit to a kick pleat. I bought this pattern last year when I tried to sew the dress to the far right. (See below.) But I didn't quite pass the muslin stage.

The other skirt I have on my 2011 list of projects-to-accomplish is the Judy Holliday skirt. Here's the sketch:

This full skirt has unpressed, inverted pleats, a wide waistband, and a hem border. I will be using the leftover floral print from the Hepburn skirt. The waistband will be made using a medium weight black cotton and the hem border will be a black polka dot on white background. A real fun skirt, don't you think?

McCall 5591 is the pattern I have in mind. It is VERY similar to my sister's sketch and I know for a fact that I probably won't be up to much drafting after the Hepburn skirt is completed.

So that is my plan for the first two skirts of the Perfectly Pretty Skirt collection. I am really looking forward to beginning. . . The floral print is so bright and cheery, the perfect project for Spring.


So what do you think? Do you like the Hepburn skirt or the Holliday? What would you change about the styles and what fabric do you envision using?