Red Skirt

Red Skirt

This Lolita skirt was made following the instructions from Gosu Rori volume 7 from the skirt on page 11. The lace is applied to all the seams and the front and back panel has some delicate pin tucks which I think stand out better with my colour choice.

Difficulty: Easy - Medium
Total Time: approx 6 hours

It is hard to explain the actual shapes of the pieces for this skirt. There is a thin band for the bottom with the lace attached, but the rest is made out of pieces. The zip is in the side (though on the pattern the zip is supposed to go in the back - I thought it was wierd having an extra seam in the back when there was a perfectly good seam that could take the invisible zip in the side, so I moved it)

First the front and back pieces are constructed. The pin tucks are sewn in the front, then the two pieces are joined and the seam covered with the lace that has satin ribbon threaded through. Next a wide panel is gathered and the front and back sides are sewn together and attached to the gathered edge. Then the whole lot is attached and the side lace is sewn over the seam as you see in the first picture, which just needs a trim, then the bottom frill and the waist band attached.

Construction Progress

The bottom frill is attached after the lace is sewn. The lace has already been gathered slightly when you buy it so all you have to do is sew it on. Make sure you get a nice cotton on cotton and not one that uses shiny polyester thread on the design. The material is gathered until it lines up with the skirt and then attached with lace applied over the seam again, then the top of the skirt is gathered into the waist band.

Tip: Try to line up any joining seams on the frill or lace with the seams where the pieces join so that all your seams line up and you minimize any seams that may seem out of place.

The most time consuming part of this project is all the gathering, but the end effect is definitely worth it and this is a relatively simple skirt. I have left off the satin bows that the pattern suggests as well as a large material bow for the back as I felt these were unnecessary and liked the simplicity of this design.

Ready for waistband

Unfortunately no pattern for this one at this time. The magazine has detained instructions on how to draft these pieces and I highly recommend picking up a copy if you can. They retail for approximately $25 and contain patterns for approximately 18 whole outfits.

I wore this skirt with an Anna House blouse to a meetup at the Zoo on a 40 degree day, so a parasol was a welcome accessory.