Self-Punishment-Skirt

Most of you probably know by now that I love to dance.  And you've probably seen the beautiful standard gowns. If not just Google it (They have very full skirts and lots of rhinestones. And even more rhinestones :P.). So as  you can imagine dancing in a skirt is quite a different feeling from dancing in pants. That's why I always practice in skirts. Mine and those I sew for others are usually sewn on the bias. It's how Ginger Rogers achieved that "swishy" look in her dresses. She also weighted the hem but I'm not doing that for practice wear ;)

So here's the deal: I managed to loose my practice skirt. You can go back and read that again: I lost an almost floor length skirt that flared out into two full circles. How do you do that you ask? Well ... and the rest is lost in mumbling as I bow my head in shame. To punish myself I figured I'd sew my new practice skirt out of knit fabric. I just don't like wearing knits. And you're heel catches in the hem during practice: I actually managed to get mine caught in the hem of the dancer next to me ....

My pattern pieces basically looked like this:

This is the half finished skirt: It has a separate waistband, that goes almost all the way underneath my but. The teal coloured fabric is a polo knit that I - obviously - never used. It's now serving the purpose of an interfacing. I just have another 3 meters to somehow use up ... I don't know if you can see it but I'm actually in the middle of pinning my waist elastic to my "interfacing". I like to do this on the body as it provides neater results. It serves much the same purpose as waist tape for full skirts made out of heavy fabric: Holding the skirt up. Only that it isn't gravity I'm fitting against but my own (and others!) dance shoe's heels. The knit is so light weight that even centrifugal force in quick turns shouldn't be a problem without a waist elastic, but the heels just won't stop hating knit hems ...

Looks like I'll have to repin ... the seam is supposed to be further down

1. While this knit fabric actually looks quite nice (better than I'd thought knits could look anyhow) it's somewhat see-through in the wrong lights (read: bright light, read: stage light and summer sun-light) so I'll have to sew a short lining skirt. 
2. I'm going to sew in short shorts like the those Ginger Rogers had underneath her dresses. Can you tell I'm a bit obsessed with her? It's perfectly normal for Ballroom gown (both Standard and Latin-american) and probably American Smooth and Rhythm gowns to have sewn in panties. You're not even allowed to compete without them. Yep there are rules for that. They're written down here. Some countries have "extra" rules though.
3. I'm still not sure if I'll 

          a) not hem at all (less for the heels to hold on to).

          b) use horsehair braid in the hem (probably to pretty for a self punishment                skirt but a lot closer to the dresses we'll actually dance in) which is                very much in vogue in standard gowns at the moment.

You can see some examples of horsehair braid in hems here:

Isn't Joanne's skirt just beautiful? I think it's has a  very full crinoline underneath and tulle flounces with light fishing wire in the hem. Anyone want to guess the meterage?

Butterfly