Pettiskirt Tutorial

There are tons of Pettiskirt tutorials out on the Internet. I read quite a few before I decided to try making some. I took what I liked from each tutorial to make the pettiskirt the way I liked it. For the first one I made I did not use a ruffler foot and it was SOOOOOO Hard. I invested in a rufller foot and my tutorial will reflect that.

Materials
5 yards Nylon Chiffon
1/4 yard Satin
17 inches 1 inch elastic
thread

Process
Step 1: Cut Material
- 6, 45 inch strips 4.5 inches wide of Nylon Chiffon (top Nylon tier)
- 12, 45 inch strips 6 inches wide of Nylon Chiffon (2nd Nylon tier)
- cut the rest of the 5 yards into 2.5 inch strips
- 45-48 inches of satin 9 inches wide

Step 2: Sewing          
Bottom tier - this is the tier that looks like a cloud of ruffles on the bottom of the skirt. I often find myself singing Everyday I'm Ruffling to the tune of LMFAO's "Everyday I'm Shuffling during this step" because it feels like you are ruffling forever! First sew all of your 2.5 inch strips into one long, seriously, really long strip. You also want to sew all of the 6 inch strips into one long strip. i use a ruffler foot. You can do this 2 ways.
The first way is to ruffle the long 2.5 inch strip and then sew it onto the bottom edge of the outside of the 6 inch strip.

The second way is to sew the 2.5 inch strip onto the 6 inch strip while ruffling.
The most important things to remember are you are ruffling the 2.5 inch strip down the middle and attaching it to the bottom outside edge of the 6 inch strip.

Middle Tier:
You now sew all of the 4.5 inch strips into one long strip. You are going to sew the bottom outside edge of the 4.5 inc strip to the top outside edge of the 6 inch strip while ruffling the 6 inch strip. (you can also ruffle the top of the 6 inch strip and then sew it onto the bottom of the 4.5 inch strip.)

It should look a little like this when done.

I then take my very long three layer strip and fold it in half lengthwise. Cut along fold.

Satin:
Sew the short edges of the satin right sides together. Leave a one inch gap from 4.5 inches to 5.5 inches.

Satin and Chiffon:
Take one section of your three layered chiffon and sew right sides together with the right side of the satin. You are going to ruffle the chiffon as you sew it to the satin, or you can ruffle it to match the length of your satin and then sew them together. Sew the two ends of the chiffon skirt together to make it a circle.

For the second layer you need to sew the wrong side of the chiffon to the right side of the satin, once again while ruffling chiffon or ruffle and then sew. Sew the two raw edges of the chiffon together to make it a circle.

Finishing skirt:
You now fold the satin in half with the inside edge on the inside, you can pin it in place around the top edge. Then sew a line around the top edge 1 to 1.25 inches from the folded edge of the satin.
Insert your elastic through the opening you left when you sewed the satin into a circle. Sew the elastic edges together tuck inside and close the satin with stitches.

You now have a pettiskirt!

With Lots of ruffles!

Thanks Rose for lending me Reese as a model!

What's the Surprise?

I named my blog the same thing as my business name, Justine's Surprise! But what is the surprise you ask, well let me tell you. Let me first tell you the backstory behind the name. Probably 6 years ago while at my friends parents house for a family dinner we were talking about bras. If you know me you know that this subject comes up way too often! We started talking about the fact that nobody carries big enough bra sizes. I then blurted out that one day I was going to open my own lingerie store that carries all bra sizes and name it "Justine's Surprise!". My catch phrase was going to be " She may have a secret, but I have a Surprise!". It was a very weird dinner. The Justine's Surprise comment stuck around as a joke for a long time. Then one day when it came time to choose a business name for a website my husband chose Justine's Surprise!. I was embarassed at first. I have now come to embrace this name. I believe alot of things in my life have come as a surprise to others.

What I do as a business was a big surprise to most of my friends and family. You see growing up I was a tomboy, and then I became a firefighter, and I studied Biology. I opted to stay home with Caleb when he was 10 months old and found myself often bored. I picked up sewing as a hobby. Sewing seemed so out of left field to my friends and family that it was a huge surprise when I was actually pretty good at it. I just kept trying new projects and trying new things and then people started paying me to make things for them and then it became a business.

Through this blog I want to share some of my projects and of course some of the other surprises in my life!