Colorful Peasant Skirt

It seems that I can't satisfy the urge to sew ruffles!  I made another peasant skirt, this time using multiple fabrics and the gathering foot instead of the ruffler.  

I used three quilting cottons.  Yes, I know, you're not supposed to use quilting fabric for garments but I couldn't resist.  In fact, long before I'd ever even heard about that controversial topic I had bought tons of quilting fabric for the sole purpose of making clothes.  Those colorful prints were just too tempting!  So we'll see how it holds up to wearing and washing.

I cut 1 yard of each fabric into 6" strips and joined the strips together.  Here is a closeup of the different prints.  I just love paisley!

To gather the ruffles I increased the tension from 3 to 4 and used my longest stitch length.  I read that the gathering foot works best with lightweight fabrics, and they weren't kidding!  The yellow and brown fabrics were thicker than the paisley, and they didn't gather nearly as much.  The gathering foot probably works best with very lightweight fabrics like chiffon and lawn.  

The top two tiers I left flat, then began joining the ruffles.  For the waistband I added two rows of 1/4" elastic that was a couple inches smaller in circumference than my waist.  I didn't feel like pressing up the hem, so I decided to finish the bottom with Ric Rac I had leftover from another project.  Luckily I had an entire package and just barely had enough to make it all the way around.

This was a very by-the-seat-of-my-pants project, and I think I'm ready to go back to conventional patterns.  I put on my favorite pair of shorts (which I haven't worn since last summer) only to find out that they *ahem* magically shrunk in the closet.  Ok... maybe I grew.  Either way, time for me to make some shorts.  I was thinking to make another pair of Iris shorts and add a few modifications.  The previous pair I made turned out great, but there are a few things I decided afterwards that I would change next time.  

1. Add length.  No matter how many times my husband tells me I have nice legs, I still prefer to cover them up just a bit more.
2. Remove the pockets.  I love pockets, but openings gape open a bit as I move around.
3. Add a bit more width to the hips.  I get a few horizontal drag lines, which tells me that they are a bit too tight.  
   

So I think I know what my next sewing project will be!  What are you working on?