Project 6: the Patchwork Skirt

This project signaled a change of mood, a hint that comforting myself with Jim's old clothes was transitioning to a more light-hearted next chapter.

Pulling Jim's clothes out of the closet also gave me a chance to survey my own wardrobe. Weary of outfits composed of jeans and leggings, I saw that I owned only two ill-fitting, twentieth-century skirts. How about if I made a comfortable patchwork skirt?

But this project would not be limited to cutting up Jim's clothing. I would also pull patches of blue from my fabric creations and my bin of indigo-blue prints.

The patchwork skirt patterns I found online were all tiered boho or gypsy styles, but they were purportedly easy to make. I homed in on the YouTube's Rain Country channel and her video series How to Make a Patchwork Skirt. The idea was to cut ten-inch squares, doubling the number of squares for each tier. For a three-tier skirt, that was 6 + 12 + 24 = 42 squares. Three tiers times ten-ish inches in length seemed plenty long when I held a yardstick up to my legs.

It was bold of me to choose a design that used so much material but that could make me look like a house.

I was saying "yes!" to boldness.

On Saturday, October 27, I started cutting my 42 squares.

By Tuesday, my three tiers were all sewn together. And the skirt was too short. Instead of committing myself to a fourth tier of 48 (48!) new squares, I chose to add six half-squares to the top.

Oh my God, it was still too short!

I bit the bullet and cut out 48 half-squares for a bottom five-inch ruffle. Finally! The length looked in proportion to the width. I finished the drawstring waistband and for some arcanely elitist reason decided to handstitch the hem—all twelve yards of it!

It's a fun skirt that I wore to someone's eightieth birthday party where I laughed and drank beer with old friends on a Sunday afternoon.

After the quilt, the boxes, the placemats, the handbag, and the cozy hoodie projects, the patchwork skirt, with its over five square yards of fabric felt playful. It symbolized going out again after years of isolation driven by the pandemic and my desire to protect Jim in his familiar surroundings.

The voluminous skirt also represented abundance, the idea of infinite possibilities. Jim also gave me that gift—no limits, no boundaries, say yes to boldness.