Stars and Stripes

Happy Fourth of July!

This past Sunday my church celebrated Independence Day with an outdoor picnic after the service. We are encouraged to dress casually & patriotically for this annual event, but (call me old-fashioned) I just can’t bring myself to wear shorts & a t-shirt to worship! (Had it not been an outdoor event in the Texas heat, I probably would have worn my ’40s dress with a red headband instead of hat.)

I did, however, dress less formally than my usual church attire – I wore a casual skirt I made myself for a 4th of July party a few years ago.

My casual patriotic skirt.

I made this skirt out of scraps of denim I had left from a client’s project and a yard of patriotic stripes I bought because it wasn’t so stereotypical “stars and stripes”. I had to piece the denim before I cut the pattern out, but luckily, it is a dark enough navy that the piecing is hard to notice from the outside.

You can see some of my crazy piecing on the inside because I serged everything in ivory thread.

I used a store-bought Vogue pattern – number 8296 (it’s now out-of-print). I always liked the lines of the pattern for view A but I can’t stand raw edges on my clothes. So I did some fun point sewing, and by using two different fabrics, the style lines really stand out.

Pattern & completed skirt.
Sewing tip: when choosing a pattern, look at the style lines of the garment sketch instead of the envelope art – it will keep you from being influenced by the colors and fabric choices of the designer.

I like how the pattern’s asymmetrical seams sort of look like points on a star and how the stripes end up going in all different directions.

Side and Back view of skirt. It is nice how the slight breeze is catching the flounce so you kind of can see how the skirt moves.

I tried to make myself a patriotic outfit that wasn’t too cliché (I get bored with the garments that look like you’re wearing a flag) and I think it ended up being a fun skirt.

Wensley wanted in on the action but he wanted to get too close to the camera, so I’m having to hold him back, hehe.

I hope all of you in the U.S. have a wonderful Fourth!