Ivy Presents:3 Steps to Bubblicious

How to bubbleify a skirt. Apparently, next year bubble skirts are out. In this heat, I like to take my long skirts and hike them up. I'll just tell them that I didn't get the memo. So, without further ado, here's my three step plan on how to take your maxi a-line skirts from this:

to this:

Materials:

long a-line maxi skirt
safety pins
(optional) needle and thread

Directions:

Step 1: Put on skirt.

Step 2: Grab a section of the hem and fold it inwards (towards you) and pull it up until the fold falls at desired length of skirt.

Picture of the inside. See how it hangs? I used six pins on this one.

Step 3: Pin from the inside or sew a few stitches to secure. And repeat until you're done.

Tips:

• I usally start with one pin in each of the four main directs, front, back, and the two sides, then insert and extra pins.
  


• It should only take about 15 minutes or less.
  


• The skirts I use are cotton, which folds just right to get that bubbly effect. Other fabrics might not work as well.
  


• You can probably thrift an a-line skirt, if you don't already have one.



• Try to keep pins relatively at the same height, depending on the shape you want. It gets more jagged and crazy the more you vary them.



• Less pins adds to the slouchy shape of these ones. Using more pins or actually sewing it up should be more uniform and neatly bubbled.
  



• I haven't tried it with a circle skirt, but it might work.
  


• I only used 4 to 8 pins and they're pinned to about the top of the pockets.
  
  

The same thing can be used on longer pencil skirts to result in a hem like this:

You want to put the pencil skirt on inside out to fold up and pin though.

Easy, no? It truly is. Just put on your skirt and go to town. I should warn, of course, that this could leave needle holes in your skirts. If you're having a tough time inserting a needle, try not to force it. Instead try removing the pin and then trying again to help prevent the tiny holes. The pin should go in fairly easy, depending on the thickness of the fabric.

My outfits: click the pics for additional details.

Bubblefied,

Ivy Frozen