It’s amazing how a global pandemic can really simplify life down to its essentials. One of the things Mr. Dressed and I have been taking a lot of joy in lately is a daily walk around the neighborhood. It gets us out of the house, gets us the Vitamin D our bodies are craving, and reminds us that the world is still ticking along, even though it feels some days as though it’s stopped.
Needless to say, I’ve had walking on the mind lately, which served as the perfect inspiration for my latest sewing project. Now, while poodle skirts may have been all the rage in the 1950’s (thanks to the ever-glorious Juli Lynne Charlot), I knew I needed to put my own spin on it. And the fish + poodle = foodle skirt was born….
The Inspiration
As collector of all things JLC, I’ve always admired her more whimsical pieces. Nothing is really off limits in her appliqué, which boast everything from roses to trains to moths to a flame.
One set of skirts I’ve seen is what I’ve always thought of as the “Walking” series. Though the breed changes from poodles to dachshunds, she made a series of skirts with three pups on a walk, with leases swirling around the skirt and knotting at the waist in a tangle.
Left Photo Credit: Fab Gabs // Right Photo Credit: Needs More Vintage
Naturally, I started to imagine my own version of this skirt (quarantine affords me a lot of time to dream). Awhile back, I had a wonderful collaboration with an amazing artist Filliae – she hand painted me the most stunning beautiful circle skirt, with a scene depicting a girl in a full skirt out walking her sea creatures.
As a marine biologist, this one spoke to my heart and I always kept this concept in the back of my mind. I started to wonder what would happen if those themes converged – JLC and fish – and a new skirt plan started to emerge….
The Design
My design would be pretty straightforward – I wanted to emulate the swirl of leashes from the JLC skirt, and add my own twist with fishes instead of pups at the end. As someone who generally starts with a color palette, I knew I wanted a deep turquoise blue that evoked feelings of the ocean. I found the perfect shade in Kona Cotton Robin’s Egg Blue from the Missouri Quilt Company.
I also had some extra wool blend black felt from BBD Supplies in my stash, which I would use for the leashes. To complement a reasonably simple design, I also decided to hunt down some black velvet scallop trim for the hem, which I found at 32 North Supplies.
Next up, I would need the perfect aquatic life. Although sharks would have been the obvious choice for me, I was also open to other ideas, and started scouring Etsy for inspo. I’ve always loved pops of orange against turquoise and for some reason, images of goldfish and koi wouldn’t get out of my brain.
When the Mister and I first started dating, our epic 14 hour first date included a walk to Balboa park where we stopped and admired the koi ponds. Seeing koi always reminds me of that feeling of falling in love: giddy, excited, a bit nervous. We have a painting in our house of the koi pond by a local San Diego artist (we call her “Goldie”) that I bought Mr. D for one of our anniversaries. So, I decided to run with the idea and talk a stroll with the fishes….
I originally planned to make my own animals out of felt (with the help of my trusty Cricut). But, in my Etsy browsing I came upon the most perfect, juicy goldfish from Educational Gifts Felt. I couldn’t imagine making anything more ideal – from the colors, to the gold sequin details, to the sparkly teal crown perched on their head. Plus, it was a great opportunity to support a small business during such a tough year.
I messaged the lovely owner of the shop Ekaterina about modifying the sizing of the goldfish slightly and removing the detail from the back (so the goldfish could be flush against the skirt). She was so lovely and accommodating, and was able to make them to my exact specifications. With quarantine and unavoidable delays with international shipping, I knew it would take a bit of time before the goldfish arrived. So, that meant I could get everything else organized in the meantime…
To recreate this skirt, you will need:
The Construction
I was chatting with Mr. D last week and he said that my circle skirts were becoming my blank canvas. That I start with a base, and essentially paint with felt. Truer words were never spoken!
So, first stop: I needed to create the blank canvas. As circle skirt canvases have become my forte, I quickly drafted one to to my waist circumference (4.5″ radius = 28″ finished waist) and my ideal hem length (28″ + 4.5″ = 32.5″ outer radius).
Using those measurements, I cut out one half circle and two quarter circles out of the Kona Cotton and stitched them up at the side seams and up the back seam, leaving a 9″ gap for the zipper. If you aren’t as familiar with the geometry behind making a circle skirt, check out this post for a more detailed walk through.
I knew the fun part for this was going to be getting the leashes just so. JLC had a knack for creating a design that, when placed correctly on a circle skirt, would look captivating at every angle. In studying photos of the originals, there were 3 leashes, knotted and overlapping a bit near the waist, before fanning out and swirling around the hem.
To recreate this shape, I quickly cut a series of 1/4″ thin strips of the black wool blend felt – the best way I’ve found to do this is to use a self-healing cutting mat and a rotary cutter. You can measure them out, but with the number of times I’ve done it, I actually can just eyeball it and roll away!
With my strips sorted quickly, I started to lay them on the skirt, following my sketch of the originals. I started with the first leash, curving it from the waist and around to the front, stopping it right where I wanted to attached my fish.
In cases where the strip wasn’t long enough, I would layer another strip on top, overlapping slightly. Then, I would just sew them down later so it would look like one long, continuous leash.
Once I had the first leash where I wanted it, I used that as a guide for where to place the second leash. I started at the waist to create an artistic swoop where the leashes would overlap with one another without looking chaotic.
Only one leash to go! Keeping parallel to the first and second leash, I finished the waist detail with the third leash and once again swirled it around to the front.
The stark black against the blue really started to bring this piece to life. After a few minor adjustments (mostly getting the bundles at the waist looking how I wanted), I pinned the final leash in place and started to prep securing them to the skirt.
Over the course of many, many appliqué skirts (it’s a bit scary how many), I have found that long curved lines are far easier (and more time effective) to sew on my machine. So, I took to my Bernina! Working one leash at a time, I positioned each felt strip at the center of my straight stitch foot, and carefully worked around the curves until each strip was secure.
After a very short time, I was so excited to see it start to come to life. I put her on my dress form, and was really excited to see how organically the shapes swirled around the skirt.
For most of my sewing projects, I’ve been making all of my own appliqué – this has become infinitely faster thanks to Cricut, but there is usually days of prep, planning, cutting, and then putting the pieces together. But, because my perfect goldfish had arrived already made (2 with a yellow body and orange fins, and 2 with an orange body and yellow fins), I was amazed to find I could jump right into getting them onto the skirt!
I placed the goldfish at the end at the leashes, already loving how perfectly they popped against the turquoise. The glitter crowns were just the perfect touch…
Once I was happy with their placement, I set to work sewing them to the skirt. Using matching yellow and orange thread, I worked quickly from fish to fish, securing them in place with tight backstitches. I made quick work of this – it was actually an incredible relief to only have 4 pieces to sew down!
Not one to ever leave well enough alone, I started to wonder how I might bring a bit more me into the design. Well – no question it would involve SPARKLE. I knew that no aquatic creature was ever complete without some bubbles.
So, I raided my stash for a mix of clear, silver, turquoise and orange sequins and some matching beads, which I would use to create some bubbles for each of my fish.
For this, I took my water soluble pen and dotted a rough pattern of bubbles upwards – I kept this fairly random. I planned to intersperse the various colors, using primarily the iridescent and silver sequins, but mixing in some turquoise and orange for a bit of pop.
For each sequin, my preferred method is to bring my needle up through the center of the sequin, followed by a bead. I then bring my needle down through the center of the sequin, just to the side of the original thread, securing it in place.
I repeated this for each fish, until all four had their own custom series of bubbles bobbing upwards towards the water’s surface. Honestly, once I added them, can’t imagine this skirt without this detail – I felt it really added just the right amount of extra….
To ground everything, I knew I wanted to add a black trim along the bottom. I had found the perfect black velvet scallop trim from 32 North Supplies. I placed the trim on the right side of the fabric, scallop side facing UP towards the waistband about 1″ from the bottom of the hem and stitched it in place.
Once it was stitched completely around the perimeter, I then flipped it and pressed, hiding all of the stitch lines. This is my favorite way to attach a trim to any hem, because it creates such a clean looking finish.
After quickly attaching the lining at the waist (in my Sea Glass Kona Cotton), then it was a matter of cutting and sewing in the waistband and stitching in the zip! I went with a 9″ black lapped here.
If you struggle with zips, I highly recommend watching Gertie’s AMAZING zipper tutorial. I quickly got the zipper in place and moved on to the waistband.
In keeping true to the JLC trademark, I wanted an extra wide waistband with multiple parallel rows of stitching. I quickly cut two long 4″ by 32″ rectangles out of the the Robon’s Egg Kona Cotton. I backed the waistband with interfacing and stitched the waistband and waistband lining together, pressing the seam flat.
Then, starting from the top of the waistband, I sewed parallel rows of stitching at 0.5″ inches apart. I’ve shared this trick before, but a good hack for keeping things straight is to tape a flat edged guide at the correct measurement (like a piece of cardboard or, in my case, my pack of sewing needles). Before I got to the last row of stitching, I stopped – so that I could attach the waistband to my skirt.
With right sides together, I sewed the waistband to the skirt and the lining, and then pressed it upwards. I then topstitched the final row of stitching, securing the lining to the waistband and completing the last of the 1/2″ parallel rows.
As a finishing touch, I decided to use some of my spare felt strips to create a felt bow, which I would attach at the waist as if all of my leashes were knotted together. I stitched it in place with a few tight backstitches. I kept the strips fairly long so that the ends of the bows could trail and create a bit of movement when I walked…
Last steps were to attach two clasps at the waistband, secure the hem with a quick slip stitch, and press in my personal finishing touch: my custom made labels from Heart of Wonder!
Ahhh this one is really just pure joy: Inspired by JLC, with a Kara-esque twist. I mean, who else would be out on a casual stroll, giving her fish their morning constitutional?
All in all, this was one of my quicker makes. I estimated it took about 25 hours from start to finish – given some of my other skirts can take upwards of 75 hours, I was pretty happy to have a quick win!
The Debut
There is a stunning arboretum near our house, which we’ve really taken advantage of when we need to get out of the house and view some scenery that isn’t our street or our backyard. While the new season’s flowers are still fighting their way into the world, there’s a well populated koi pond in the center of the garden. I could think of no better introduction of my skirt than to bring her to the koi pond to say hello….
I was also pretty excited to give my latest Wicker Darling creation a spin – Marcus the Sharkus immediately got an honored place in my wardrobe and ate up compliments as we strolled through the arboretum. As he should….
Never be afraid to swim against the stream
It was my birthday this past Monday, which was a bit of a hard hit, because exactly one year ago my birthday was the last time I remember being out. It was my last dinner in a restaurant and last gathering with friends in an entire year. But, family and friends went out of their way to make it special with calls and messages, flowers dropped on my doorstep, and a pretty amazing dinner cooked by my pretty amazing husband.
But, I did get my first shot of the vaccine last week, which definitely makes me feel as though there is a light at the end of this rather long tunnel. And while I wish I could take this skirt out for a twirl in the big wide world, for now, a neighborhood stroll will have to do.
Gone on any good walks lately?
xoxo
Construction Details:
Circle Skirt: Self-drafted
Skirt fabric: Kona Cotton in Robin’s Egg
Lining: Kona Cotton in Sea Glass
Goldfish: Handmade by Educational Gifts Felt
Appliqué: Felt from BBD Supplies
Assorted sequins: Amazon
Additional notions (zipper, thread): JoAnn’s
Outfit Details:
Blouse: Modern Millie’s, sold out (similar)
Skirt: Made by me!
Handbag: Wicker Darling
Shoes: Moschino, thrifted (similar here & here)
.
instagram // twitter // facebook // pinterest
.
Any items marked with a “c/o” (courtesy of) a retailer mean I was provided with an item for free in exchange for a review and/or feature on my blog. I always provide my honest opinion of any item I’m reviewing, regardless of whether it was sent to me as a courtesy item or if I purchased it myself. In addition, this post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click and/or make a purchase through certain links or ads on this site, I may make a commission from that click and/or purchase at no cost to you, which helps with the day-to-day running costs of my blog.