Tuckin' the skirts

[Eric the Ugly]

Alright, so my gal is going to/wants to wear two full skirts but neither she nor I have a good idea as to just how one tucks one of the skirts up into the waist or...belt or...whatever... to 'expose' the front of the skirt underneath. Help?

I'd have run a search as I suspect this has been covered, but honestly, I had no idea what to run a search for! -lol- 

We've both taken good luck at a number of faire photos of ladies doing just that, but we're still no closer to know just how. If anyone of you ladies can give guidelines/guidance it would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Cap'n Hunnar Graybeard]

She just needs a good pair of skirt hikes. I bought some for my wife last year and she loved it.

[Eric the Ugly]

We've considered those, but she wants the outside skirt to be tucked in and exposing a goodly "A" shaped portion or so of the front of the skirt underneath, however that's done.

[isabelladangelo]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahkirby/2420590201/

See how she has grabbed the skirt?  Now, that bundle of fabric that she has in her hand gets tucked into the belt.

[Marietta Graziella]

There's not really a secret or special way to accomplish this.  Just grab a handful of skirt and slip it under your belt.  Ta-dah!   You can adjust how much and where just by the handful you grab.  You can be very specific, carefully pulling it up and arranging the folds to lie neatly, but a rigorous day at faire will undo your efforts rather quickly.

I am personally not a fan of the skirt hikes only because it's more stuff on the belt.  Sometimes, depending on the garb, the belt is already pretty full.  lol

[Dinobabe]

What she said!
There is no right or wrong way to do it.  You can tuck high, low, one side, both sides.  Whatever YOU like.

[raevyncait]

I try to tuck my skirt into its waistband before I get my bodice on, which saves me the trouble of having to undo it from the belt before I remove the belt, AND it helps to keep it tucked all day long.

If I don't remember, and have to tuck into my belt, I try to pull enough up that I can wrap it completely around my belt and then tuck it under the belt. I pull it up between the belt and my body, then fold it over the top of the belt & tuck it back under the front of the belt.  The only problem I have with doing it this way is that if I need to find something that is buried in the pouch I wear on the back of my hip, and I need to look into the pouch to do so, I have to untuck the skirt to get the pouch all the way around to where I can see into it.

[Ms Trish]

Maybe I misunderstood a different thread where I read someone used a ribbon wrapped between hem and waistband? Would hold the skirt up and wouldn't be attached to your belt. Of course the waist band needs to be tight enough to withhold the "drag" of the lifted skirt I'd think.

[Dinobabe]

Maybe I misunderstood a different thread where I read someone used a ribbon wrapped between hem and waistband? Would hold the skirt up and wouldn't be attached to your belt. Of course the waist band needs to be tight enough to withhold the "drag" of the lifted skirt I'd think.

Or just stitch the ribbon into the waistband.  When you aren't using the ribbon it would just be on the inside on the skirt.  You could do two on each side and then tie a loop around the skirt that ends in a bow.  It would be pretty.

[Adriana Rose]

I have some that I made out of long bits of ribbon and sewed snaps on them.You have to sew them! I thought I could cheat and use hot glue and that was an epic fail I thread them trough the waist band of my over skirt. and tada! You can embellish the ribbon over the snap any way you want. Its super cheap too
( i dont have pictures though)

[amy]

I have made skirt hikes with 2 D rings off an old belt.   Just sewed them onto a ribbon swatch and sewed the ribbon tab to the waist band.   Works great, but only thing is f you want it in a different spot you have to spin the skirt around your waist!

[gem]

We've considered those, but she wants the outside skirt to be tucked in and exposing a goodly "A" shaped portion or so of the front of the skirt underneath, however that's done.

If I'm understanding you correctly, and you want the skirts tucked up on both sides, showing underskirt at front (sort of like this), then she'll need a split-front skirt (here it is untucked). Tucking is a lot easier than it looks--simply reach down and grab the front corners of the overskirt and bring them up and back to the hips. You will automatically be drapey and symmetrical! Then tuck them underneath the bodice. The bodice should be snug enough to hold the skirts in place all day. My split front skirt is from Ophelia's, and it's simply a skirt with an open front, sewn to a sturdy elastic waistband.  Here's a much better shot from their website:



If you want the pointed ends of the skirt to trail down gracefully, then grab the *middle* of the front of the skirt and tuck that back by the hips:



Easy-peasy!

[Rowan MacD]

  Great ideas !...Tent window covers are tied up the same way, I never thought about doing the same with a skirt...*forehead slap*
  Don't forget that you can also sew the rings or ribbon under the bottom edges of a bodice too.
As for tucking the skirt into the belt or using hikes; it depends on how heavy your skirts are, how active you will be and whether or not having to stick the hank of skirt back through your belt a few times per day is worth not using hikes at all.
  For a couple of years I just pulled a corner of the over skirt though my belt and that was fine, but now days I prefer to use hikes.  I have used my hiked over skirt as an apron,  shopping bag, and even to carry a tired puppy in.  The hikes keep your skirt where you put it, and can take some weight if you fashion the pouch the right way (takes practice).  
  This is also a period practice, since shopping bags and baby slings as we know it are recent inventions, and baskets require one of your hands, when you may need two.  The idea of layering skirts was not just to keep the better underskirt clean as I have have seen written somewhere (not on this forum).

[Lady Rebecca]

Maybe I misunderstood a different thread where I read someone used a ribbon wrapped between hem and waistband? Would hold the skirt up and wouldn't be attached to your belt. Of course the waist band needs to be tight enough to withhold the "drag" of the lifted skirt I'd think.

Or just stitch the ribbon into the waistband.  When you aren't using the ribbon it would just be on the inside on the skirt.  You could do two on each side and then tie a loop around the skirt that ends in a bow.  It would be pretty.

That's what I did for my old garb - there are four places where ribbon is sewn onto either side of the waistband, and they tie together at the bottom, so the overskirt just gets tucked into them.

[bittersweetheart]

Thank you to everyone that replied. All of your post are extremely helpful. And thank you babe for posting.

[Eric the Ugly]

Thanks, ladies. Much appreciated.

Gem, reading your post and seeing the pics, I can see that I at least was under the mistaken impression that skirts tucked in the way shown were just..well..just tucked. I didn't realize they were already split-front.

isabelladangelo, your post was helpful, and she tried it just so the other day and it looked great.

I guess I thought there was some arcane science to the whole deal.  Looks like it's more a matter of "whatever and whichever". All's well.

Thanks so much, everyone!

[Dinobabe]

They don't have to be split to be tucked!  It's just "one" way.

[gem]

I think Dinobabe's right. You could probably manage a sort of split-front look by getting the front of the overskirt gathered up really tightly.... but a split front makes it a lot easier and less bulky.

[Dinobabe]

I tried to find a picture of how I did mine, but couldn't.  I would take the bottom of the skirt above each foot and slightly to the side (there abouts) and tuck that into my belt.  It gave a swoop of fabric in the front.  Depending on how much fabric you tuck and from what side you take the majority (from in front or from the side) you can change the look.  If you currently have a standard skirt try it out just to see what looks you can manage. 
But like Gem said, if you really want the split look then yes, you will probably need a split skirt.  I would recommend making the skirt double sided.  Then when you tuck the front ends you will have another, complementary, color exposed.  It also gives you two skirts in one!  I like to tuck my split skirt into the back of my belt so I have sort of a swoosh of different color towards the back.  My skirt is red on one side with really wide green trim on the bottom; and green on the other side with the front two panels in rusted orange.  I basically have four skirts in one depending on how I wear it!

[Delireus]

I've got a split front skirt and I love it! I wear a shorter skirt under it, then with the split in front, I take the corner hem of each split and bring it around to my back, and tuck it in the waistband. With my shorter skirt in front, it sort of gives it a burlesque look I think. Depending on where you grab the skirt to tuck it, and where you tuck it on your waist, such as on the sides or the back, you can change the angle of the A it creates.