Absolutely insane rainbow patchwork 7 metre circle skirt!

[ludicrouslouisa]

Well this thing nearly killed me. I went completely insane. I saw Vegbee's tutorial (http://indietutes.blogspot.com/2007/05/patchwork-circle-skirt.html) for one of these and then on a whim I decided I wanted one.
Now these things are normally for little girls, and I can see why. You go insane if you try and make one for a full-sized one.

To give you an idea of how headachey this was to make:
- most of the fabric is stash fabric, but a lot of it was plain so I painted and drew on quite a few of the squares. Most of the striped pieces are painted that way
- The tiers go like this:
Red: 14 squares
Yellow: 21 squares
Green: 32 squares
Blue/Turquoise: 48 squares
Indigo: 62 squares
(Total: 177 squares with dimensions of 13cm by 13 cm)



There is no orange tier because getting lots of different shades of orange would be a) expensive and b) impossible. There's no purple tier because I HATE purple after being in a purple house at my school for 5 years and being assaulted with purple.

The bottom hem measures 682 cm! It's a circle...and somehow I think the work was worth it. But I doubt I'll make one of these for a VERY long time. (My friend has requested one too! Oh no!)

The waistband is some rocking fish patterned fabric, with orange buttons.
You can see it best here:


My review of the tute:
Use it, if you have a lot of patience. It looks and feels amazing when you wear it, but prepare to scream and get sore arms from gathering. Making this for a little girl rather than yourself may also be wise. It would be a lot quicker and easier if you a) used a serger and elastic rather than a sewing machine and thread gathering like I did cause I'm cheap/don't have a serger, b) made the squares bigger and c) didn't feel the need to paint/draw on/colour coordinate the squares so much.

Thanks very much Vegbee for your tute!
I'd love to hear comments - too kiddy?

[dorareever]

I like it. and I don't really like  colorful stuff usually, so I suppose it's nice. 

[plague angel]

i love it! not quite ready to test my patience that much by making one, but one day i will....

[sajona]

it looks well worth the effort! You can actually zigzag stitch some narrow elastic to do the gathers (as long as you have already neatened the edge you are gathering) - it works just as well as serger/elastic gathering.

[devotedplanet]

You are AMAZING. Seriously. I love it, it's freaking fantastic.

[Miss Blue Kitty]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh i want one! total awesomeness!!! you ROCK!

[crafty_rach]

Love it, tempted to make one, even after your warnings lol.

[hepburnlady]

The skirt looks really cool, I admire all your hard work.  I wouldn't have had the patience.  Well done.

[ScrappySue]

This looks fantastic!
Wow and your patience, the only way I could do this is as a mini skirt.
Congrats
S

[rachikus]

you have rad skills.