Rainbow Patchwork Skirt

[jessicaaa]

must of taken a millenium to sew this! i love patchwork!!

[schultebunny]

AHHH!! I must have a skirt like this! I finally got a sewing machine, and I'm looking to make a skirt (I love the big, flow-y floor-length skirts like this!), and I totally want to know how you did this! I can cut 4x4 squares... easy... how do you "ruffle" the levels?
EPIC SKIRT, you TOTALLY ROCK.

*wisted*

[jezebel_1982]

schultebunny - I'm making mine currently, and you would make it just like any other "broomstick" or petti skirt.
Take your 4x4 squares, and sew them in strips that are progressively longer than the last, which creates your tiers. You can use a ruffle foot to ruffle before attaching them to each other, but I'm lazy & don't have a ruffle foot, so I just pin them together and do "cheater ruffles" as I go.
The accepted increase per tier is about 1.5.

This means that in a 10-tier skirt, if you start with a 45" band, you would need 12.5 squares. Round up to 13. Use 1/4" seam allowances like quilting. This would give you 45.5" to start with.
Tier 1: 13 squares
Tier 2: 20 squares
Tier 3: 30 squares
Tier 4: 45 squares
Tier 5: 68 squares
Tier 6: 102 squares
Tier 7: 153 squares
Tier 8: 230 squares
Tier 9: 345 squares
Tier 10: 518 squares

This would give you a fairly average size patchwork skirt without the extra ruffle on the bottom. For the last layer to have that extra frilliness, I used a 2x increase instead of 1.5, so in the above set, you would need 690 squares for the 10th tier.

There are tons of variatons on here, and the sew-along board for this has a couple linked in the first post, as well as lots of ideas from people who have completed variations on this.

The math for mine ended up being a bit more, as I opted for a 60" waist (I'm a big girl, and wanted this to fit a lot of people, even those bigger than me) The waist is usually elastic or drawstring to make it adjustable.

Good luck if you opt to make one! This is an epic project well worth all the time put into it, as well as the sheer weight of all that fabric when you're done. Swing on over to the sew-along as well, we'd all be happy to cheer you on as you go, or offer advice if you need linked in my signature....

[cutemonster]

This is so beautiful. I would never have that enough patience to do all that sewing.

[NulloModo]

I love this skirt! I really admire your patience - I would not be able to do all of that!

[shalunya]

This skirt is sooooo amazingly beautiful.  I am getting married in April '12 and we are doing an entire day of fun and celebration like an old fashioned family picnic.  I am making a skirt like this to wear for all of the fun festivities before the wedding.  THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! This skirt is exactly what I was looking for on our special day!

[stickypixie]

Okay, I know this is from back in 2008, but I am just seeing this now, and I am OUTRAGED that ANYONE could criticize this beautiful skirt. I want to make it, and make it now. It is my new muse. It is beautiful  and wonderful in every way. I am ready and willing to speak reprimanding words to those that spoke ill of this wonderful thing. Ahhhh I love it so much.

[robingoodfellow]

This skirt is AWESOME! So awesome in fact that I just created a craftster account to tell you how awesome it is.  That those around you chose to criticize it says something about them(and nothing nice given your effort that went into this skirt) and not about the skirt.   Believe in yourself and trust what you think, you make gorgeous things.  *hugs*

[mini_mum]

totally agree with everyone who says that this skirt rocks, that you did an amazing job, and that you should be SO proud of your achievement (don;t think I'd have the patience to cut the fabric, let alone sew them together!).

Those around you who made negative comments are just showing how ignorant they are.

[swinneyswitch]

   This skirt is gorgeous.  I showed it to my 14-year old granddaughter, Hannah and she loved it too.  Guess what, I'm making one for her and will post pictures when it is complete.  We both loved the fullness and although I told her it would be heavy, she didn't care.  That is what we both love about it.  Hmmmmmmmmm..I will probably make one for me a well.  Thank you so much for posting this and the tute.  You rock!  Linda