Make It or Buy It? '60s Mod A-Line Skirt

Based on: A-Line Skirt 

Initial Assessment: This cute little a-line skirt would be quite easy to make yourself. 

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Skill to know – Making a Fabric-covered Buckle: The biggest challenge would be the Coco Skirt's fabric-covered buckle. Covered buckle and belt kits can be bought at most fabric stores. If you’ve never done a covered buckle before, I suggest buying a couple so you can do a practice one or two. As with most things, you’ll get better at them the more you do. 

Buckle kits come with a top frame, the larger piece, a smaller bottom frame, a sticky back pattern and a prong. Cut a piece of fabric larger that the included pattern. Peel one side of the paper from the pattern to expose a sticky side then carefully place the pattern, sticky side down on the wrong side of your fabric. You really only get one shot at this. I try to start from one side and slowly press the pattern down. 

Once you’ve done this, trim away the excess fabric around the pattern, including any holes or slits. Peel away the second layer of paper. Position the top piece of the buckle over the sticky side and press down, taking care that the buckle frame is centered. Smooth and ease the fabric up and over the lip in the back of the frame. You may need to clip the seam allowance in some places. After the excess fabric and tabs are inside the frame, snap the back piece into place. You may need to gently pound around the edges with something blunt, like a screw driver handle to get the back piece securely in. If you want your belt to have some stiffness, use belting, available by the yard, on the inside. You can also simply use interfacing for a softer belt. 

To make the holes in your belt, you will need an eyelet kit. Eyelets come in all sorts of colors so you can pick something that goes with your fabric. The first step is to punch holes in your fabric/belting (once you’ve marked them of course). You can use a hole punch, or an awl, or even a nail. Press the eyelets through the holes from the right side of the belt. Then, use the tools that came with your kit to secure them. You center the eyelet over the bottom tool, fitting it into the groove, right side down. From the back, place the long tool over the top, also fitting it into the groove, then give the whole thing a couple light taps with a hammer. 

Pattern for Reference: Any A-line skirt pattern will work to make this skirt. Just shorten it to your desired length. 

Decision: If you have 60” wide fabric you could make this skirt with only one yard in about an hour. If you don’t count your time or buy a super expensive fabric, this skirt is cheaper to make than buy. There are a lot of cool retro print cotton fabrics for 4.99 to 9.99 a yard.