Stitch by Stitch Scherenschnitte Skirt, a la Boden

Last fall, while I was working on Stitch by Stitch, I received my semi-weekly Boden catalog in the mail.  Of course I can’t find the photo now, but I remember seeing a skirt in it that was an all-over applique design that really spoke to me.  I fell in love with the idea of an applique that was larger than life, that covered the vast majority of the skirt, that took on a life of its own.

Stitch by Stitch includes an A-line skirt pattern, which I admit to having used at least nine times (that I can count) to make skirts for myself.  I’m pretty much all about the A-line skirt.  It also seemed like the perfect medium for a HUGE applique.  I had already seen some really cool paper cutting on both Amy Karol’s site and on Scherenschnitte that I adored–most especially this one, of squirrels with acorns:

Considering my long-standing love affair with the acorn, it was a no-brainer to snag this puppy and make a divine skirt.

I wrote to Cindy of Scherenschnitte, the designer of Worship the Nut, and asked permission to use her design to create a papercut applique, on fabric.  Which is a contradiction in terms, but I think you see where I’m going here.

The cutting was tough, I’m not gonna lie to you.  These two fabrics are both a midweight cotton twill, and the cocoa twill was cut from the Worship the Nut pattern using an Exacto knife to preserve as many of the lines as I could.  Some of the minute details of the original papercut design didn’t translate to fabric because of the size, but I’m all kinds of in love with the overall effect.

After cutting, the cocoa was fused to the stone twill using WonderUnder, and then stitched in place using a satin stitch.  It took way less time than you might think, actually, and was soothing and enjoyable.  I swear.

I’m looking forward to adding some details using embroidery floss, filling in those bits from the original pattern that were too narrow to applique.  And to having one more skirt in my wardrobe to wear with those fabulous shoes.  Full reveal when those final details are in place.