Betty Skirt Tour - Pleather and Faux Leather

Today I have the pleasure of participating in the the tour of the Shaffer Sisters first and newly revamped pattern, the Betty Skirt!  I had previously posted a version of the skirt when I had tested the pattern for them.  The Shaffer Sisters are some of the nicest and most supportive women out in blogland - along with hard working!  Over the past few months they have perfected the pattern and updated it with more sizes (newborn - 16x), including a doll size.

The pattern has several options - gathered, gathered with placket, small pleats, large pleats - all with very detailed instructions and templates.  Having several options of something puts me into a tailspin...I have to try it all.  And I will make each version of the skirt, eventually.  But for the tour I made three skirts to show some of the ways to use the pattern.  I had only intended to make two (one for each girl), but the other one snuck in.

My favorite part in sewing the Betty is the yoke.  I make a lot of skirts and loathe threading the elastic.  So it's really a fun change to sandwich the elastic between the yoke pieces instead.  The other great thing about this skirt is that its design is perfect for showing off fun fabrics!

Every time I've walked through JoAnns this past summer and saw this bronze pleather and faux leather in the costume section, I've wanted a reason to use it.  I pretty much stopped and stared at these fabrics once a week.  And then it hit me - they would be the perfect fabrics paired with this pattern to make the girls some fall skirts for school picture day.

Get set for picture overload...first the skirts paired with Little Zippy Tops (their picture day outfit) in gorgeous Heather Ross fabric.

The bronze pleather was really much easier to sew with than I had expected.  I chose to do the gathered version of the skirt to let the fabric shine, and it does!

But for the faux leather, I had a different idea.  It's kinda thin, so I figured I could try and pleat it with lots of clips instead of an iron (thinking it was un-ironable).  Turns out it IS able to be ironed at a low heat setting and pleated just fine.  And because of the amazing detail that the Shaffer Sisters put into the pleating guide, I had absolutely no problems with the process (couldn't believe it!)  I stitched each pleat down about an inch to keep the pleat looking sharp.  My girl loves how the pleated option twirls, as she did several times, which is why the skirt looks a little disheveled in the pics :)

The skirts also looked great with these knit shirts (Eleanor Tops) so I had to share pics of those too...

BTW, this outfit was inspired by another Betty Tour look by Modern Handmade.  My girl asked for a scarf made with the horse fabric and I thought it looked perfect paired with a navy Eleanor top and the bronze skirt!

Last (but not least!), the third skirt I made is a different use of the faux leather with the gathered skirt version.  When I bought the other two fabrics, I fell in love with this Native American style embroidered fabric.  

I think the combo of the two fabrics are perfect for fall.  Like I said, this pattern is great for featuring fabric - especially one that you've been saving forever or that you only have a little bit left to use.

Be sure to check out all the other versions that are being showcased during the pattern tour!  Also, if you've been considering this pattern, now is the time to snatch it up - there is a coupon code to use during the tour for 30% off the pattern!  

Code BETTYTOUR