Funky Wavy Brown Fabric Skirt

I will have to stop scribbling skirt patterns at some point as I will end up with more than I know what to do with!

I was thinking of a blue/white fabric when I sketched this pattern, but after I allocated it to another project, I looked at this piece instead:

Wouldn't the rows of the pattern look great with other fabric between it?

Maybe even eco-dyed fabric? I have some white that I could have dyed, but then I found this skirt at the op-shop and decided that the lace layers would be a nice offset to the bolder pattern of the print. One of my aunts recently made a quilt based on the stone lace agate; this combination reminds me of that idea.

I put the two side-by-side before I cut into the skirt, to make sure that it would work.

And they did. But the more I looked at my fabric, the more reluctant I was to cut it up. Before I cut anything, I wanted to try something else. I had been thinking about doing a pintuck skirt, where you create hundreds of small folds in the top of the fabric to create the waist and shape.

The idea is not to cut your fabric. I had to pin the whole length, to see how tight the waist would come in and whether it was too long or too short. I could then adjust the pintucks accordingly.
It took quite a while!

I did two sewing tests on scraps of fabric, to determine how to sew the pintucks.
Test 1 - horizontal lines only

Front above, back below.

This method was easier and faster, using a series of horizontal lines to hold the tucks in place. But I wasn't totally happy with how it sat. The pleats turned to the side, making the gather different.

Test 2 - Vertical lines

Front above, back below.

Because the folds on the back moved around, I then sewed horizontal lines to flatten them out.

This would be very time consuming, essentially sewing hundreds of individual darts. And having to tie off hundreds of threads!
But... it looks better. Fiddly, hard work it is!