Michael Kors' Green Garden Shrub Skirt: How to Make Your Own Ruffled Skirt

Michael Kors dresses you like a bush for just $7,995. Swear to G-d.

Needless Markup won't let me steal/use the large size photo - sorry. Here's the straight version; from the Spring 2011 runway. Sadly - not as bushy.

The skirt was on Neiman Marcus' Midday Dash sale today. Guess the store had a few left over.To me, this kind of couture is the sign of a designer who won't accept any honest feedback.

And not to be a bitch, but I feel like Michael Kors should just have a pneumatic tube installed that sucks the apparel right from the studio straight to TJ Maxx.

Ok. I'm a bitch when it comes to Michael Kors. And Cynthia Rowley.

The taupe version of the skirt is more interesting and the lighter fabric probably has a lot of movement. That movement with the slight sheen of the silk is probably pretty cool. It reminds me a little of the McQueen Oyster dress. It reminds me *alot* of the gills of a mushroom.

 

I can tell you how to make it. You need a universal ruffle foot attachment. I bought one at Sears for about $20 - fits most machines.

You need a deckle edge blade for your rotary cutter. Michael Kors probably cut his with a laser cutter.

If you're smart, you'll probably make all this up in muslin, first. But I never do that. Which is why I get frustrated and hardly ever sew clothing.

So - with that caveat in mind - you need a whole bunch of taffeta or silk cut into long strips. If you want them stretchy, you might try cutting the strips on the bias. Check out Bias 101.

Yeah, you might get fray, but the deckle edge on the rotary cutter will help that, just like pinking shears greatly reduce the fray of a raw edge. But if you're going to make and wear a skirt that looks like a bush, why do you care?

Kors' "shrub" skirt is taffeta and that gives the ruffles a little more body - makes them thicker; fluffier, poofier. The taupe skirt is probably a lightweight silk and it looks like multiple strips were sewn on top of one another to give it that feathery look.

Find a skirt pattern that works for you - this will be a base layer - either A-line or straight. Make it up in the same fabric you've chosen for the ruffles. Ruffle the strips. Sew the ruffled strips on top using a straight stitch.

Ta-da! You're wearing a bush.

But seriously, the ruffle foot/fabric strips can make lots of things more interesting. Bedding, for example.

 

 

Comments

[Kristen]

Laughing. And cat lady - the term "bitch" would suggest protectiveness rather than recalcitrance. Them girl dogs are only violent when their babies are threatened - the kind of vicious anti-emperor's-new-clothes displayed here would be more - ummm - bull like? I cannot picture you worrying that anything you love is threatened by a walking bush - unless we're talking about the basic morality of good design. And the guy gets 8K a whack for this nonsense? Very sad. Very funny.

[teent]

Must be sewn with gold thread.