Thread: How was this skirt made?

This is a Hoda Zaki costume. I love the silver and gold panels on the skirt, and I'm trying to figure out whether they were most likely sewn on over a black base or whether the whole skirt was pieced together from black, gold, and silver panels.

It's the jagged edges that have me confused. It seems like they would make it difficult to use the panel method.

Any thoughts? I may be crazy, but I may actually attempt to make a skirt like this at some point.


Hoda black gold and silver.jpg

I don't suppose you have a larger photo where we can see the details better?

It almost looks, to me, as though it were painted on ...

Before I commit to a definitive explination, I would have to see the skirt, but, with a serger, it is not that difficult to piece things is wonky ways.

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by Ariadne_Eleni

I don't suppose you have a larger photo where we can see the details better?

No. I'm not even sure where I found this one.

Could it be a printed fabric?

It looks to me like the black is on top of the gold and silver panels. If it wasn't shiny stretch fabric, my guess would be that they fused the black to narrow strips of fusible web, cut out the irregular edges, then ironed it to the other panels, but I'd think an iron hot enough to do that would wreak havoc on those fabrics. I guess it is possible to do that by sewing or (cold) gluing the black on top and then trimming the edges with a small scissors, but that would be a lot of work. Based on that weird little wrinkle about five inches up the center gold-black transition, I'm guessing it started out as separate pieces, though.

without being able to see the side seams...
I'd say it's a printed fabric, possibly even flocked with the black.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

Based on that weird little wrinkle about five inches up the center gold-black transition, I'm guessing it started out as separate pieces, though.

Yes, the wrinkling is what gave me that impression, too.

They probably stitched the two layers together to create the jagged look. I used the same technique on this skirt a couple of years ago. Sorry for the really bad photoshop job on this picture:


How to do it:
1. use a mermaid skirt pattern and cut the panel pieces from the basic color (In this case, you need a gold and a silver panel for the front, and maybe dark fabric for the back)

2. use the original pattern piece to create the overlaying piece with the jagged edge. Put it on the black fabric and cut. Example of my fire skirt:


3. put the pattern piece with the jagged edge on top of the gold or silver piece and use a zigzag stitch to attach the two together. Also attach the pattern pieces together at the sides and top!! Close up from my fire skirt:


4. treat the pattern pieces as one layer and assemble the skirt as usual.

optional: you can choose to cut the excess fabric from the gold/silver panel away, but if the two fabrics have a different amount of stretch it will alter the shape and might create puckering around the edges. Using a double layer of fabric on a couple of panels will make your skirt heavier.

Originally Posted by Ainsley

No. I'm not even sure where I found this one.

I hate it when that happens to me.

At a guess, I think they took a black skirt and cut it to make the jagged pattern then either surged the edging in a gold or just underlined the edges somehow in a matching shape of gold, I would guess it was surged in some type of decorative gold thread though. However it was edged the black skirt was then layered over alternating gold and silver panels that they then permanently sewed the black skirt to (appliqued?) and may or may not have cut away the excess.

The slit on the left looks like it has been trimmed in gold and black braid/cording. The same braid used to trim the top of the skirt and the edges of the bra.

The bra looks like it was done in the same layering technique with the gold laid first, then a silver piece that has also had a jagged edge trimmed in gold laid over it, then the trimmed black piece in the center.

The sleeves look like they are a panel of silver with the black overlay on either side and if I had to guess I would think there is also a gold panel on the opposite side you can't see.

The beading of course was done last.

Considering the gold and black braid/cording on the top of the skirt I would also guess it has a zipper in the back.


Best of luck.


PS. mekyria has a great example of the technique I just suspect the edges were finished before being attached to the under-fabric.

Thank you both so much for the detailed explanations!

Kyria, that is an awesome skirt. Am I right in thinking that the red fabric on your skirt goes all the way to the hem and that the orange and yellow are layered on top of it?

Ariadne, interesting suggestion about the decorative gold thread edging. I was assuming that the gold around the edges was beading, but it's hardly clear in such a small photo. Gold thread would definitely add less weight.

A couple of people have suggested that, if the skirt is layered, the black is probably on top of the gold and silver. If I had been guessing at it myself, I would have assumed that the basic skirt was made in black and that the gold and silver pieces were laid on top of it. What would the advange be in putting the black over the other colours?

Originally Posted by Ainsley

A couple of people have suggested that, if the skirt is layered, the black is probably on top of the gold and silver. If I had been guessing at it myself, I would have assumed that the basic skirt was made in black and that the gold and silver pieces were laid on top of it. What would the advange be in putting the black over the other colours?

I guessed the black was on top from the way the gold wrinkle was pulling, but construction-wise, I suppose the metallic fabrics could have been sewn on top as appliques. Depending on the thickness of the fabrics, you might get better results layering one over the other. All things being equal, putting dark on top of light usually hides the bottom overlap better than putting light on top of dark. It wouldn't matter if you had a narrow attachment and you covered the seam with some sort of decorative stitching or additional embellishment, though.

Originally Posted by Ainsley

What would the advange be in putting the black over the other colours?

It would flow better that way. The black fabric will add an extra weight so by having its panels in the center/side/back it will act in a similar way to when you put a panel skirt over a more flowing skirt. From the look of the skirt the silver and gold panels are also gored and drape softly at the hem. The weight of two fabrics would prevent them from flaring properly during turns etc. if it was the other way around.