Skirt Re-fashion.

i saw a lovely skirt on the internet the other day
it was steam-punk-y with a corseted laced type back
and i thought hmm i could do something like that
so of to the charity shops i went looking for a skirt to re-fashion

i needed to find one several sizes too big
so i could lace the back of it
and found this one for the bargain price of £1.50
in a size 2/3 times too large.
oh dear
when i put it on it wasn't so big after all
which if you saw the ammount of biscuits i've been consuming lately shouldn't have been such a surprise!

anyway it was a really good quality skirt
the fabric is lovely
and as i stood looking at it an idea formed . . .

so i grabbed my tin of pins
and got pleating and pinning

i put in 12 pleats/tucks up one side and
stopped about 10" from the hem

i put two tucks on the other side too
i think it has a neo-victorian look

i like the way the lining shows

i searched through my button stash and found
a matching set of 14 buttons and stitched
up the first side.

the result is fairly soft folds ruching the fabric

does my bum look big in this?!

these are my new christmas boots
they make me want to wear skirts!

after sewing on the 12 buttons and trying it on
i felt it didn't need the two on the opposite side
but i'm not 100% sure on that yet.

so now i have this sticky out bit
i pinned it in several ways but decided that it needs
to be loose at the bottom for ease of walking

at the moment i'm thinking of finishing it like this
would you call it a kick-flare hem?
i'm going to use two buttons and a little elastic
loop to close it
unfortunately that is all the buttons used up
which leaves none for the other hip pleats,
the perils of using vintage supplies!
OR
i could use one of those frog-braid fasteners
hmmmmm
and i might trim the shirt with black ric-rac
what do you think?