Well, I wanted to just start out with a gathered rectangle skirt for a meetup (that I ended up not going to anyway). So I took my measurements, measured the fabric PERFECTLY, like 8 times. Then cut it and sewed it and whatnot, tried it on, and it was TOO BIG. So I made it smaller, tried it on again, and The waist was too big, but it was SUPER DUPER tight on my hips. It was like, an upside-down gathered skirt (except i didn't make it upside-down). And I apparently don't know how to add elastic to these things.
Hooray incompetence.