It all started when I was perusing ModCloth and saw a beautiful plaid circle skirt. I needed it. The problem was, it was $64. Yikes. But no fear! I can sew(ish)!

As a young teen obsessed with vintage clothing, I dearly wanted a circle skirt. I'd seen them in old magazines and thought the felt ones with appliques like poodles or the Eiffel Tower were just too cute for words. When my grandmother realized how much I loved vintage fashion, she gave me a beautiful ruffled petticoat she had made in the mid-1950s and two felted wool circle skirts she was still wearing as late as the 1970s (she kept her 23" waist until her death by doing nightly sit-ups on a slant board!). I was 14 at the time, and the clothes were a perfect fit. I was on cloud nine.

Perhaps more than any other item, the circle skirt instantly brings the '50s to mind! My late grandmother wore these all the way into the late 1960s and looked fabulously glamorous in them. I love this feminine silhouette!