Category Archives: Photography

This skirt is more or less an apron. I made it years ago when I found all fasteners hard to put in and I wanted to make a skirt without any. Instead it just ties. There are two layers to the skirt (although it would work with one). The top layer is an apron: a rectangular piece of fabric long enough to wrap all the way around my body gathered to my waist size and sewn into a waistband with long ties at one end.

The bottom layer is sewn up along the side into an ordinary skirt. However, if it were the same size as the top layer it would be impossible to get on, so I added an extra eight inches or so which are not sewn into the waistband. This makes it easy to put the skirt on. When I tie up the side I tie in this end so it doesn’t gape. It’s a very simple summer skirt and was easy to make at a time when I didn’t like putting in zippers, buttons, or elastic.

The closure on this dress is a bit complicated. I had five beautiful buttons I wanted to show off – just enough for the top of a dress. But the buttons run out at my waist as the skirt begins, which wouldn’t leave enough of an opening to get into the dress. I fixed this problem by having the front pleat snap shut. I sewed up a little bit at each fold just to help it lie flat, but the pleat is mostly open when the snaps are undone, leaving plenty of room to get into the dress. Then I snap up each edge of the pleat and cover it with a belt, and it looks like an ordinary box pleat.