Thread: preference in trumpet skirt styles??

When it comes to trumpet skirts...
do you have a preference how they are constructed?
I need to make about a dozen for my dance troupe this month and I have two options:

1) a belled design - six panels that are rectangular at top and bell shaped at the bottom. This is my personal fav and have made it many times just for me! It flows beautifully when you turn.

2) a gored panel design - similar to the classic LRose - six rectangular panels, with six triangular gores set into the seams from the knee down.

Because I'm making so many - cost is an issue as well as being able to just find enough fabric (black stretch velvet is sooo not in season right now).

A gored skirt takes approx 1 1/2m to construct, whereas the belled design needs 2-3m of fabric and leaves alot of waste pieces. I can use some extra for gauntlets, headbands, etc - but not that much of it!

What to do?..c::

In this case I'd go for the gored design. I'd love to know about your pattern for the belled design though - did you design it yourself or is it from a pattern you bought?

I would do whats most cost effective and less time consuming to make. You can order the fabric online to save money an it would be easier to find rather than in a fabric store.
Good luck! :Abiggrin:

Tamra,
The belled skirt pattern is one I drafted for myself (and a few fellow dance sisters).

Pretty simple to make given a few key body measurements.
6 straight seams, a little tweaking in the hips, the waistband, and a hem!
But as I said - it takes a lot more fabric to make.

I'd be happy to email out some directions if you pm me your address.

pm coming!

caasious- I'd love to see directions.
my email is jennahliyana@gmail.com
I've tried the belled pattern (I made for myself) but it didn't seem to get enough flare for me. I didn't really like it because of the lack of flare...I felt like I might as well have just made a flared straight skirt.

I recently made a gored skirt from a straight skirt-which might be easier than putting all those seams for the rectangular pieces. I just made a tube and put slits in to insert the gores. worked great!

Stretch velvet is awesome because it is soooooo stretchy!

Bright Panne ''Crushed Velvet'' - Asst' Colors

check it out. I have a 40% off coupon too if you want this crushed velvet! shipping wont be cheap, but this is a pretty good price

Jen - I find putting gores into seams alot easier (read faster here) than setting them into slits.

If you attach one edge of a gore to the bottom edge of each panel, then attach the panels together it whips up real quick and there's no weird stuff happening at the tops of the gores. Nothing but straight seams... good for when we do a team sewing bee with a bunch of newbies. ..l;,

hmmm, not sure how to do that! you still have to sew the other edge to the other side, right?
I'll have to google it, haha

I'm interested in belled skirt pattern also - I have always done the gores similar to LRose. surida_bd at yahoo.com

You could save some $$ if you made the gores out of a different fabric - one that you could cut gores right side up and upside down next to each other to save fabric. Needs to be a fabric that the grain doesn't matter.

I love a belled skirt -- I made a pattern for myself, too, and I've made a few of them. Jen, the secret is to make it narrow/fitted through the thighs and then make the bells so they create a full circle. Which took a lot of geometry to get the angles & curves just right -- I think I did it the hard way.

The pieces that I cut away are just perfect for fitting together into sort of a pointed overskirt design that can go over a chiffon circle... so that's what I usually do with my scrap. Nice for a troupe because with matching overskirts & gauntlets you can pull some very disparate costumes into a cohesive look.

But if you're having to do a lot, I'd go with whatever is fastest.

I am going to agree with everyone else in the do what ever is fastest and least expensive. Personally, I love the inserts when they are contrasting fabrics. I have several lace trumpet skirts which have amazing chiffon inserts.

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I love a belled skirt -- I made a pattern for myself, too, and I've made a few of them. Jen, the secret is to make it narrow/fitted through the thighs and then make the bells so they create a full circle. Which took a lot of geometry to get the angles & curves just right -- I think I did it the hard way.

But if you're having to do a lot, I'd go with whatever is fastest.

when you say full circle... you mean all the bells together become a full circle, right? but this full circle should just have a radius of the length from above the knee to the ground?

sorry for all the questions

Anyone know what the circumference is of the bottom of their bell style skirt?

My sewing skills all rooted from my very mathematical and geometric....detail oriented mind. So I must say that I probably annoy the crap out of a lot of you people that things just come naturally to! Give me math! give me numbers! give me details!

Thanks Lauren

Yes, that's it exactly. So I had to figure out what angle was required at the top of the bell in order for the 6 pieces together to make a 360 degree circle, know what I mean? I used the pencil-on-a-thread-stuck-to-a-pin technique to draw the bottom edge.

I also remember calculating the circumference (or was it the radius????) as part of my patternmaking... just figuring out fit with 6 seam allowances almost blew my mind, though. It's been a couple of years ago, but I remember spending a whole day on my couch with a calculator, pencil, notebook... wadded up pieces of paper all around my feet, smoke coming out of my ears, crying.... if you like math, it should be fun for you!!!

you crack me up!

when i do a circle... I just say choose my radius (distance from knee to ground) and then say circumference=2*pi*radius....if you have 6 pieces each bottom curve should be the circumference divided by 6. I'm pretty sure you could get away with this being a straight line across the bottom and then eye balling the curve (it really shouldn't curve that much if your circle is big enough.

If my calculations are correct a 21 inch flare length should result in the bottom of each "bell shape" to be about 22 inches....
which results in the bottom of the skirt having a distance around (circumference) of 132 inches (about 3.66 yards).

haha, now that i made your head hurt...does that seem like enough flair?

I've only done something similar to the belled. The Madame X Marvelous Mermaid pattern does something similar to that. They're all I wear now because they flatter me and are so very simple to make. It does move differently than other mermaids (it kind of waves), but it's a lovely movement. The more panels you use, the more it will flare. Here's the first one I made. I used four panels. There's plenty of spins so you can see how it moves.

[ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=MYiZjOWUiVc]YouTube - Diana June 2007[/ame]

Originally Posted by jenlindseys

you crack me up!

when i do a circle... I just say choose my radius (distance from knee to ground) and then say circumference=2*pi*radius....if you have 6 pieces each bottom curve should be the circumference divided by 6. I'm pretty sure you could get away with this being a straight line across the bottom and then eye balling the curve (it really shouldn't curve that much if your circle is big enough.

If my calculations are correct a 21 inch flare length should result in the bottom of each "bell shape" to be about 22 inches....
which results in the bottom of the skirt having a distance around (circumference) of 132 inches (about 3.66 yards).

haha, now that i made your head hurt...does that seem like enough flair?

Jen -

Do you do this when you cook, too? because if you do, don't come into my kitchen or ask for my receipes because the way I do it wille make you crazy! A pinch of this, a dab of that, soem of this other. . .

{{{HUGS}}}

There is a pattern in the simplicity book, 4401. It's been discussed on the forum lately, hope it stays in the fabric stores for awhile!!

I'm reviving this thread because I have a couple of questions on the belled skirt design with a fishtail. I am trying to recreate an Eman style skirt that has 4 belled panels and a fishtail.
I had a chance to inspect one of these skirts and the fishtail is a 1/4 circle which starts a little under the bum (like upper thigh).
I tried to make a mock-up of the skirt and it has hardly any flair so I know I need to make my panels wider at the bottom (I made them twice the width of the top).
So my question for anyone is this, should the 4 panels create a full circle at the bottom and then the fishtail is an additional 1/4 circle, or should it be just a full circle including the fishtail? Or is it just a matter of preference?
Also, since the fishtail starts under the bum, does the flare start there too or above the knee like a normal mermaid skirt?

I make a lot of costume stuff without patterns or make my own patterns, but I've never done a fishtail before and can't quite wrap my head around the concept!

Thanks in advance!
amanda

I would think it would work best if the 4 panels created a full circle then add in the fish tail. You can always trim it down if there is too much fullness after that.

Diana, that looks lovely! Adding madame X pattern to my (long) list of bellydance "I-Wants."

Madame X's mermaid skirt is the one I use - the options are unbelieveable once you set your mind to it. I'm also finding that Discount Fabrics: Fabric for Apparel, Home Decorating and More has all the stretch velvet colors I could ask for, and at very reasonable prices. Their olive green stretch velvet is to die for! As a matter of fact, I gave their website address to lrosedesigns and that's who they're using for their stretch velvets now.

I prefer gored rather than bell as someone with a big booty i just find it more flattering. i usually make the godets with chiffon-looks pretty.