Hanukkah Skirt Collaboration with Charm Patterns

Happy Hanukkah! I’m so excited to be able to share a project I’ve been working on the past couple of months. I worked with Charm Patterns to design this Hanukkah Skirt which is now available up on their blog. I had a great time working with the team at Charm Patterns to make this happen and I was so glad they released it on the first day of Hanukkah this year so that you have time to make your own! Check out their blog post to get all the files for making your version.

The skirt is based off of classic 50’s felt circle skirts. I actually used heat transfer vinyl for mine instead because a felt skirt wasn’t quite practical for California and I wanted to use sparkle for some of the appliqués. However, I did test out each design in felt which I cut out using my Silhouette, making adjustments as needed since felt is a thicker medium. I wanted to be sure they cut out cleanly for everyone no matter what medium they were using. Here were my samples in felt (note that colors were what I had in felt, not necessarily what I expected people to use):

The skirt itself is the Stanwyck Circle Skirt pattern which is a gored circle skirt. It’s a great option if you don’t feel like cutting massive circles and there are some fun pockets included in the pattern although I didn’t put them on my skirt — but they would have been great for stashing away extra gelt.

The skirt is made from lovely Robert Kaufman Ventana Twill from Needles Studio. That’s also where I got my notions like the zipper. They have an amazing selection of fabric, notions, and gifts. I highly recommend checking them out!

However, the lining of the waist and pockets is actually my own custom design which I had printed at Spoonflower.

Usually the skirt is finished off with a hook for the closure, but I actually opted for a jean button because I thought it fit more with the twill and since the zipper is actually a metal zipper, it fits well. I love the lapped zipper on this skirt. Such a clean finish look. 

For the designs themselves, I included the common motifs of Hanukkah, like the menorah, dreidel, gelt and Star of David, plus some lesser known ones like the jug of oil with only enough for one night that lasted eight nights and sufganiyot (aka jelly donuts) since we traditionally eat fried foods, again, because of the oil. I would have loved to add a latke in there, but I just couldn’t figure out a latke that didn’t look . . . well, like a pile of mushy potatoes. Absolutely delicious, but not nearly as cute on a skirt. So suganiyot it was.

I played around with the placement until I was happy. You can use all or just some of the shapes. For example, I didn’t actually end up using the candle on my skirt, but I could see a skirt with a focus on the candles being lovely! Here’s a look at my placement and don’t forget that if you cut out the dreidel letters for heat transfer, be sure to cut them out mirrored so they’re not backwards.

I’m so happy with how the skirt came out and can’t wait to celebrate in it. It was such a lovely experience working with the Charm Patterns team. I hope I have the opportunity to work them again!

Wishing everyone a very happy Hanukkah!