Project Proposal: Pencil Skirt with Digitally Cut Tiger Motif

Intention

My reason for taking this course was to be able to learn some fundamentals of manipulating fabrics in order to make something practical that I could use and would hold up. I watch a lot of Project Runway and was inspired by the designers to try and make my own garment. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to sew a skirt. :( Hopefully, later on I will be able to make it!
I really like the look of a pencil skirt, but I wanted to give it an exciting feature, something to make it stand out. Right now tigers are in fashion, and the image I chose reflected the way the tiger would be arranged on the skirt without being front and center. To keep it "classy", I kept the skirt a navy blue, with a black-bordered waistband and black-bordered hem.  

Overall Concept & Digital Sketch

A digital sketch of a navy pencil skirt with a Chinese tiger motif.

The navy pencil skirt gets sewn using a pattern, while the tiger gets digitally printed on iron-on fabric, and then ironed on the skirt. 

Materials & Techniques

Materials include:

• 1 yard of navy blue cotton fabric
  
• Sewing machine with navy blue thread
• Standard sewing supplies (scissors, marking tools, pins, etc.)
• Zipper
• Tape measure
  
• Iron-on fabric
• Digital Cutting Plotter
• Iron

Some broad techniques for the pencil skirt include:

• Take measurements of my waist, hip, leg circumference, and total length
  
• Add seam allowance to measurements
  
• Divide measurements, and outline skirt on paper to make sewing pattern 
• Add a vent extension
• Cut out fabric following the pattern measurements
• Sew the fabric pieces together using a zigzag stitch (allow enough fabric for the seam allowance and leave enough space for a zipper)
• Hem the vent and edges 
• Add the zipper
• Check fit and hem skirt
• Create waistband

Reflection

Wikihow proved to be a helpful resource, as well as another site I found. With sewing garments I thought there would be a step-by-step instructions on making anything, whereas I found that while there are some steps one can take to have a nice looking garment, it is more about mixing up the steps depending on what you need... a.k.a. there are a variety of ways of getting to the same finished product. 

While I would like to have a finished product, designing it was fun too! I got to use my creativity to fine-tune my vision for this particular piece. Later on, I might try a make something more complicated that can go with the skirt.