Skyline Circle Skirt

I've been thinking about circle skirts a lot lately.  I have several plaid suiting/wool skirts planned for Fall/Winter wardrobe building, and although I am an impatient girl, and you have to let your circle skirt hang before hemming,  I do feel like there is no substitute for how you feel when you rock a circle skirt.   Casey is having a sew a-long, where she's showing how to draft a circle skirt- and Patty recently posted a fantastic Circle Skirt Calculator showing how to alter and or draft full circle, 3/4 circle, and half circle skirts! 

Here's my favorite skirt of the summer, my half-circle skirt made from fabric with a printed panel just made to create a border!  On a circle skirt, since the entire hem is curved, you can't use regular border fabrics to decorate your hemline with a mid-century style illustrated skyline, so when I was at Walmart 5 or 6 years ago, I couldn't resist adding this panel to my stash. 

Simplicity 4236 still available!

It must have been a cross-promotion with Simplicity, since the printed panel is represented right on the Simplicity pattern envelope, but it was ever so easy to make the skirt without any pattern, since the panel did most of the work for me!  All I had to do was measure the length I wanted my skirt to be from the hemline to find my waistline, and mark that width accordingly!  I used packaged piping to face the hem, to accent the skyline illustration, and to add some body to the skirt much like horsehair braid would.  It worked really well!

A circle skirt just makes a girl FEEL angelic. 

I used 1 1/2" black elastic to make the waistband.  I sewed it on like a facing, and I can wear it up with the black showing, or turn it all the way in like a facing.  I've been wearing tucked in shirts with this all summer, so I've really loved the belt-like effect of the solid contrast waistband.  The quality of the black elastic I used, is sadly lacking, however.  It's already showing threads, and I will have to replace it soon.  It was packaged elastic also bought at Walmart, but it's Dritz, and I am confused as to why the Dritz elastic by the yard would be twice as sturdy.  I am sad, because this elastic is very soft and comfortable.  It will be easy to replace, but boo for having to do so.

Other than elastic quality issues, there's nothing I don't really like about this skirt.  I have a black tulle skirt to layer under it as soon as I can stand to wear something lined in nylon poly again, and I think the lines of this skirt are immensely flattering to me.  I feel so girly and angelic too!  I guess technically, since this is a half-circle skirt, I feel like half an angel.. But stash busting totally made me feel like I brushed that l'il devil who constantly encourages me to buy new fabric right off my shoulder!  For one project anyway...

I'm really excited to be sewing along with Casey too!  In the combined interest of stash-busting and wardrobe building, I'm hoping to add one full circle skirt (in an awesome red and blue classic wool plaid), a 3/4 circle skirt (yet to be determined), and to finish a half-circle skirt I cut out last Fall that is completely Anthro-inspired with a contrast hem facing..