As the Unofficial Month of JESSica ends, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the awesome month we had and all the cool hacks we did! I was on a quest to wear a Jessica Skirt every day and I did it! Thirty days, no repeats! And with fellow “modmins” getting in on it, too, we had a lot of fun along the way! Here’s an overview!
Fitted Skirts!
The fitted skirt is definitely my favorite. It has various length options, slit options and POCKETS! Oh I sewed SO many pockets this month. The best part is that they don’t add a lot of bulk to the skirt, so even though it’s fitted, it still looks great with the pockets! I HIGHLY recommend adding slits wherever possible. They don’t have to be high to be helpful. The modest slit on the maxi is about knee high (and could easily be made shorter if needed,) and on the mini, it’s only a couple of inches. Of course, if you want more DRAMA, make it HIGHER!
A Line Skirts!
The A Line skirt was the original pattern option, back when we tested it earlier this year. The idea was to have a kinda sporty, fun skirt that you could dress up or down. The A Line definitely accomplishes that! It’s got a great casualness to it, but with the right fabrics can be even more special! And, of course, POCKETS!! Don’t ya just love ’em?!
Hacks & Mashes!
This was my favorite part of the month! ALL THE HACKS and MASHES! As much as I love the Jessica Skirt, I didn’t really just want a closet with 30 different colors and patterns. So we started brainstorming, hacking, mashing and got some stellar results!
My absolute FAVORITE MASH is fitted Jessica mini and relaxed Layne, The “Jesslayne”! Layne is a relaxed dolman top and sweater with a cool curved hem. Didn’t need that part for the mash, though! I basically just held the patterns up to my body, overlapped them so the proportions hit in the right spots, taped those together and cut! It wasn’t a smooth transition between the two, but it was easy enough to just grade that line to make a nice fabric cut. Sew, hem, look fabulous!
Super Mod Leslie also tried this mash out, but with the a-line Jessica and relaxed Layne. She also added the side ruching from the Maple dress for a cute detail!
Same idea, hold patterns up, overlap where desired, sew, hem (technically optional!) and look FABULOUS! **A small note regarding the ruching. You’re going to lose some length with it, so use a “longer than necessary” skirt for it, or you might end up with a tunic instead of a dress!
Next up! Jessica and Finn!! “Finnessica!” If you haven’t seen it yet, the Finn Crop top is a new FREEBIE for us and features a relaxed crop tee with two different crop lengths and sleeve lengths. You can cut two fronts for a slouchy off the shoulder look, too! For this mash, it couldn’t be simpler—make the skirt, as patterned, holding off on the waistband. Make the top, as patterned (don’t hem.) Once those are done, assemble them together. You’re going to sandwich the waistband between the top of the skirt and the hem of the shirt (pay attention to which sides are the fronts!) I did mine skirt right side out, waistband, shirt wrong side out. Sew those altogether, flip top up, topstitch your waistband if you so desire, and boom. Done!
Isn’t it cute?!?! I need a million more now! Along the same lines as Finnessica, we have different Jesslayne. Same method as with the Finnessica, but using the a line Jessica and fitted Layne. Assemble each as patterned (without hemming/waistband,) and then sandwich the waistband between the skirt and top, sew up, hem, look fab!!
Oh! And the most Jessica-ish mash of all! Jess²! Jess² is a fitted Jessica mini with an a line maxi over the front! But Leslie is the real Jess² master here, so I’ll let her explain:
“I got my inspiration for Jess² from many of my 7 year old skirts actually. I wanted something short and sassy with something long and flowy over the top! Since Jessica has both a fitted skirt and an Aline skirt….it was pretty easy to pull the look together. First I cut my mini length fitted skirt per the tutorial. Now, for the overlay look….I went a little rogue. Just kidding….not much. With the a line skirt pattern piece, the back is cut on the fold BUT the front is cut mirror (1.)…thus creating 2 front pieces. For the waist band, I cut the fitted contour waistband.
(2.) Now that you have all the pieces, construction is ready. (3.)I construct my waistband and set it aside. And mini and set it aside. Do not attach the 2 yet!! Take your Aline back skirt and attach a front piece to each side. Make sure you are attaching the front side (it has a bit if an angle) and not the center to the back skirt piece. Repeat both sides. It will create a LONG rectangular shape. (4.)
Now you HEM….ALL the way around the rectangular shape skirt. With hemming done you are ready to connect all 3 pieces. However, because the Aline width is wide than that of the mini and the waist band you will need to run a gathering stitch across the top of the Aline skirt.(5.) Now with the gathering stitch done, lay the Aline skirt out, and place the mini on top. (6.) Pin/clip the mini and Aline at the center back and side seams. (7.)Then, at the front center of the mini over lap the two ends of the Aline skirt about an inch (8.) Gather the rest of the Aline skirt to fit the mini. Now place the contour waistband over top, right sides together. Attach….and taaahhhhdaaaahh!!!! You just made Jess²!”
Isn’t it awesome!! Thanks, Leslie!!
Speaking of Leslie, did you see our cocktail skirts?! Or Calli’s camo skirt with the built-in shorts??!! All of us used the same hack (albeit, all different shorts patterns, lol) to get built-in shorts with our skirts. Now we can be extra comfy while looking FAAAAB! Yet another easy peasy hack!
Get out your favorite fitted shorts pattern–I used the Opals cut at a 3” inseam, Leslie used the Hells Bells shorts, but you can use whichever you’ve got and love. Both the Opals and Bells have a higher rise, and work well with the Jessica Skirt without much modification. Simply assemble your shorts, insert into skirt, and then attach your waistband! That’s about all it takes!
Lastly, hacking with colorblocking! This is a super easy hack, as it just involved some careful folding. I’m a big fan of color and have so many color combos that I love together, but wearing all those pieces separately can be a bit… much. So I took the full pattern piece, folded on the diagonal to get the pieces I wanted. But you can cut/hack how you want! This is a simple diagram for how I did it.
You can cut these pieces to make your life easier, or, as I did, just fold back and cut. PRO TIP! Make sure you mark the tops of the pattern pieces. If these get all mixed up, it’s going to be a lot trickier! I actually just put a piece of scotch tape on the top of each piece and took it off when I sewed (umm… I might have actually just let my serger cut it off, idk…)
Assembly is simply just sewing all those pieces together for the front, back, topstitching ALL THE LINES if you so desire, and then you can proceed with the pattern assembly as normal! I used modal and rayon spandex for these and I just love how drapey it is!
We hope you enjoyed all the fun we had this month with Jessica! We would love to see your makes as well! Make sure to post them in the fan group and tell us if you do anything FUN with them!!
~jess
