I am looking at making my first faire skirt, and I want something a bit more detailed than a a simple two pieces of fabric and a drawstring skirt, but I am lost in patterns....any advice as to where to start?
A good basic skirt is very simple. Buy four or five yards of material. Cut a 3" wide by your waist size plus 1" off the yardage. (So, if you have a 30" waist, cut a 31" by 3" waist band from the width - small side- of the material)
Roll the edge of the yardage and sew that down. Remember which side is "out" and which side is "in" roll the other edge of the material (both widths of the material are rolled) and sew it down. Sew, "in" sides together to about 7" from the edge of the "top" of the yardage. Pleat the yardage to your waist band. The 7" is the gap to allow you to get in and out of your skirt. Sew the pleats to the waistband. Flip the waistband over and sew it down. Add a hook and eye and you are done!
Circle skirts aren't much harder - it's just remembering that your waist is a circumference and what your radius, therefore, would be to cut out the waist.
I like to make my skirts one of two ways--either slightly gored (wider at the hem than the waist, so it's not so bunchy), made from an old Simplicity pattern... or from a single 4-yard length of fabric, cartridge-pleated to a waistband.
Simplicity skirt (http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL417/1033223/17691164/315717528.jpg) (An added benefit of the gored skirt is that it also fits over hoops (http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL417/1033223/22511199/373963735.jpg).)
Cartridge-pleated skirts here (http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL417/1033223/23241773/394147242.jpg) and here (http://elizabethcbunce.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/black-bodice-jenny-e1378666056379.jpg?w=750&h=751).
Technically speaking, I think the cartridge-pleated version is actually easier--you don't need a pattern, you don't have to cut anything out, there's only one seam, hemming is straightforward (no curves).... But the cartridge-pleating itself--while dead simple to do--is time-consuming, and must be done entirely by hand (that's a plus in my book; YMMV! ;)) We have a really great thread on this boards on how to do the cartridge pleats.
Pattern-wise, the one I use is out-of-print, Simplicity 7756 (http://images.patternreview.com/sewing/patterns/simplicity/7756/7756.jpg), but I suspect that most of the current Renfair-type patterns would have similar skirts. It's three big, gored panels, gathered to an elastic waist.
Good luck!!
I have yet to attempt the method from this tutorial, but it looks simple enough.
http://costumingdiary.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-make-circle-skirt.html (http://costumingdiary.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-make-circle-skirt.html)