Banana Circle Skirt

i was in the mood for a new skirt and knew i wanted to go to my infamous style, the simple circle skirt. i went to Hancock Fabrics one day and wandered around the store for quite some time trying to find a fabric i wanted to use.  i eventually went with this awesome bright yellow twill.  you know i love my bright colors!! the actual color name on the bolt was banana!  so i got my fabric, zipper, bias tape, and yellow buttons and set out back home to begin sewing.

my original plan was to make a half circle skirt, but with the fabric being 60" wide, and then i bought 1 1/2 yds, i was able to get a full circle skirt out of it!  it was actually one whole circle, but then i did one side seam to put in the zipper.

for the waistband i did a simple rectangle longer than my waist width so it would overlap.  i then did a simple button for the closure.  i was super excited about the button because it was so cute with the little white dots detail on it!

for the skirt hem, i decided to do a bias tape faced hem with yellow bias tape instead of doing narrow hem.  i only bought one package of yellow bias tape and didn't end up having enough, but luckily enough it was only a small section that lacked.  so i added some white bias tape to the open section.  also, i bought double fold bias tape instead of single fold, but worked it out by simply ironing the middle fold of the bias tape out.

once my skirt was finished i was going to just keep it the solid yellow, but decided to add another little touch and do round, pleated patch pockets.  for the pockets i did an inverted box pleat in the center and a regular pleat on either side of the box pleat.  this tutorial from guthrie & ghani was great in helping me figure out how to make the pattern for the pocket.

to attach the pockets i fanned the skirt out completely flat and measured meticulously to make sure they were even.

i also added black piping and a self-covered fabric button.  i LOVE doing fabric covered buttons!!!

even though i planned to make a 1/2 circle skirt i'm glad i did the full circle because i love how the skirt came out.  i also made it longer than what i thought i needed then cut off about 2" or  3".  this way i could be positive it wouldn't be too short.  can't wait for my next circle skirt!!

the skirt is absolutely fabulous for twirling in too!  i started taking timed pictures of me to demonstrate the great twirl ability...

...then realized i could do an action shot setting with the timer.  so no more blurry pictures!  and on to the barrage of twirling pictures.  i was having a lot of fun twirling, if you couldn't tell!