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Tea Length and Knee Length Skirts


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I quit wearing pants, jeans, and shorts right after the New Year. After much experimentation, I've found my happy place when it comes to skirts and dresses. Tea length or longer with a full-ish skirt is my preference because I can still get down on the floor and wrestle and play with kids without compromising my modesty.

 

I have a hard time finding skirts that fit my requirements...I guess I'm not "in" right now, LOL!...so I started making my own skirts. I've discovered I can get 1.5 yards of fabric that I love at Joann using a 40% off fabric coupon from their Sunday ad for a reasonable price and turn it into a skirt for less than what I could go to a store and buy a skirt for.

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I know this is off-topic, but . . .

 

When I read the title, my first thought (seriously!) was to wonder what skirt length had to do with how long TEA lasts. :lol:

 

I spend too much time here. Clearly.

 

(For those who are newer or happened to be doing something constructive with their lives when it happened--there was a legendary thread that used "tea" as a synonym for sex.)

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I'm tall and overweight. The way I'm proportioned, I think I look fatter in skirts. DH could care less either way. I do wear them to church occasionally but I still prefer pants for how they fit my shape.

 

Plus I have to wear Birkenstocks 99% of the time because of PF in my left foot. Skirts look just "okay" IMO casually with Birks, but not for church. Pants often hide better the comfortable shoes I have to wear.

 

Gosh, I sound like a frump!:glare::confused:

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I mostly live in sundresses all summer long. And in late spring and early fall with a little cardigan if needs be. I have no trouble finding them knee length at the stores I shop regularly - Gap, Target, and Walmart.

I cannot wear Target bottoms to save my life. Their 12s are cut SOOOO small and their 14s are HUGE on me. I dunno if it's how I am built or what but ick. Also most of the dresses I find there are so low cut (I am a DDD so that's a huge issue). I love Gap and Old Navy as well as Lands End.

 

I have a huge list of "modest" sites from this book I absolutely adore: "Dressing With Dignity".

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I know this is off-topic, but . . .

 

When I read the title, my first thought (seriously!) was to wonder what skirt length had to do with how long TEA lasts. :lol:

 

I spend too much time here. Clearly.

 

(For those who are newer or happened to be doing something constructive with their lives when it happened--there was a legendary thread that used "tea" as a synonym for sex.)

 

No kidding! I thought we'd gone from a clever little euphemism to downright too much information. :ohmy:

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I have been wearing dresses and skirts almost exclusively for the last 6 years. I have had not trouble doing anything in them. I do feel more feminine in them and I feel very uncomfortable in pants. If you love wearing them, I say go for it and enjoy!

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What a timely thread for me! I have started wearing skirts a lot more lately. I want to dress modestly, and be comfortable, and practical, and cute, all at the same time. :) I've found quite a few tea length skirts at the thrift store lately that are very cute. Tea length is the right length for me. Knee length skirts/dresses are ok, but my dh prefers I wear something longer. But if I wear a skirt to my ankles, I look silly. I think it's because I'm short. Anyway, tea length skirts are my new best friends!

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In my childhood my parents gently encouraged me to wear dresses and skirts (just about tea length, actually), though I wore pants too; then in my youth I rebelled and wore mostly pants for a few years, saving skirts and dresses for "special occasions" or random fits of wearing them; then as an older teen I found some kind of balance between the two, and then started slowly shifting to mostly dresses/skirts in my mid twenties. I never completely abandoned wearing pants, but nowadays I wear them quite rarely.

 

My daughters also wear pants maybe once or twice a week, they're usually in skirts too. DD13 has been having a phase recently of wearing really long skirts (ankle-length), and as she's tall and slim, they look really good on her. DD12 and I are mostly in tea length ones.

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Plus I have to wear Birkenstocks 99% of the time because of PF in my left foot. Skirts look just "okay" IMO casually with Birks, but not for church.

 

The Bali berkie style is back in production and looks very nice....

 

Danskos can work with PF, too, though not all day, like Birkies. HTH

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I wear skirts most of the year. Over jeans or legging in the winter.

I just like to look more put together, IYKIM. When someone comes to the door or I have to run the garbage out or go to the drug store or whatever, I feel like I am really dressed if I'm wearing a skirt. Not fancy and I usually just have a t shirt or sweater on with it, but somehow it helps me feel nicer looking.

I do wear jeans by themselves plenty of times, as well, but I really like skirts and have way too many :D

 

Jen

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Also most of the dresses I find there are so low cut (I am a DDD so that's a huge issue). I love Gap and Old Navy as well as Lands End.

 

I put on a tank under my sundresses. Otherwise, I would be hanging out of them in a very inappropriate manner. :tongue_smilie:

 

I like maxidresses right now and have a couple of comfy old navy skirts, longish and elastic waist. I don't think they are particularly flattering, but they are cool and comfy.:001_smile:

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I put on a tank under my sundresses. Otherwise, I would be hanging out of them in a very inappropriate manner. :tongue_smilie:

 

I like maxidresses right now and have a couple of comfy old navy skirts, longish and elastic waist. I don't think they are particularly flattering, but they are cool and comfy.:001_smile:

 

Yeah I do lots of layering. I am short too so I don't do maxi dresses well. I think I need to get some patterns and do my own

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Yeah I do lots of layering. I am short too so I don't do maxi dresses well. I think I need to get some patterns and do my own

 

 

I am tall (5'10") so maxidresses still aren't as long as they are supposed to be on me! They hit me a couple of inches above the ankle. Oh, to be "average height"...for both of us. :tongue_smilie:

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I quit wearing pants, jeans, and shorts right after the New Year. After much experimentation, I've found my happy place when it comes to skirts and dresses. Tea length or longer with a full-ish skirt is my preference because I can still get down on the floor and wrestle and play with kids without compromising my modesty.

 

I have a hard time finding skirts that fit my requirements...I guess I'm not "in" right now, LOL!...so I started making my own skirts. I've discovered I can get 1.5 yards of fabric that I love at Joann using a 40% off fabric coupon from their Sunday ad for a reasonable price and turn it into a skirt for less than what I could go to a store and buy a skirt for.

 

Do you have a pattern you recommend? I would love to make some skirts, and I love the longish, peasant style ones, but have had a little trouble finding a good pattern. And I'm not an experienced enough sew-er to go without one. :lol:

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I know this is off-topic, but . . .

 

When I read the title, my first thought (seriously!) was to wonder what skirt length had to do with how long TEA lasts. :lol:

QUOTE]

 

Same here. I read this as Tea length and thought TMI!

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I am tall (5'10") so maxidresses still aren't as long as they are supposed to be on me! They hit me a couple of inches above the ankle. Oh, to be "average height"...for both of us. :tongue_smilie:

I'm 5'3" but all the maxi dresses literally drag on the floor if I buy off the rack lol I just look dumpy in them

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Do you have a pattern you recommend? I would love to make some skirts, and I love the longish, peasant style ones, but have had a little trouble finding a good pattern. And I'm not an experienced enough sew-er to go without one. :lol:

 

The easiest by far is to get a yard - 2 yards (depending on how full you want it and you're size...plus size would be 2-2.5 yards for a full skirt) of whatever fabric you like that's 45" or more. Measure a skirt you like to see how long it is. I'm 5'6" and I like my skirts ~34-36" from the waist if that helps.

 

PATTERN

 

Unfold the fabric you bought and lay it out as one long piece. It will look like this:

 

-------------------------

|...........fabric.........|

|...........fabric.........|

|...........fabric.........|

-------------------------

 

--- = the selvage on the top and bottom of the fabric.

| = the edge of the fabric that they cut at the fabric store.

 

Measure down from the top selvage however long you want the skirt PLUS 2" (allowance for the hem and waist). Mark it and cut off the excess fabric.

 

-------------------------

|...........fabric.........|

|...........fabric.........|

|xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|

 

 

x = where you cut the fabric to make it the length you want

 

 

Now fold the fabric in half so that the right side is together and the two ends marked | in the picture above are touching. Sew those two sides together. Now you have a big tube.

 

Add elastic to the waist, hem the bottom, and you're done. I use 1/2" elastic if that helps. Start to finish, I can make a skirt with that pattern in under 2 hours.

 

If you want to get fancy, you can embroider on the skirt, attach strips of ribbon, put lace around the bottom...the possibilities are endless. But you'll end up with a skirt long enough you can roll around on the floor with a very rambunctious 3-year old boy without having to worry about modesty. :)

 

Hope this helps!

Edited by Hill Country Classical Academy
graph formatting
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Super helpful!

 

The easiest by far is to get a yard - 2 yards (depending on how full you want it and you're size...plus size would be 2-2.5 yards for a full skirt) of whatever fabric you like that's 45" or more. Measure a skirt you like to see how long it is. I'm 5'6" and I like my skirts ~34-36" from the waist if that helps.

 

PATTERN

 

Unfold the fabric you bought and lay it out as one long piece. It will look like this:

 

-------------------------

|...........fabric.........|

|...........fabric.........|

|...........fabric.........|

-------------------------

 

--- = the selvage on the top and bottom of the fabric.

| = the edge of the fabric that they cut at the fabric store.

 

Measure down from the top selvage however long you want the skirt PLUS 2" (allowance for the hem and waist). Mark it and cut off the excess fabric.

 

-------------------------

|...........fabric.........|

|...........fabric.........|

|xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|

 

 

x = where you cut the fabric to make it the length you want

 

 

Now fold the fabric in half so that the right side is together and the two ends marked | in the picture above are touching. Sew those two sides together. Now you have a big tube.

 

Add elastic to the waist, hem the bottom, and you're done. I use 1/2" elastic if that helps. Start to finish, I can make a skirt with that pattern in under 2 hours.

 

If you want to get fancy, you can embroider on the skirt, attach strips of ribbon, put lace around the bottom...the possibilities are endless. But you'll end up with a skirt long enough you can roll around on the floor with a very rambunctious 3-year old boy without having to worry about modesty. :)

 

Hope this helps!

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