My Favourite Skirt Pattern

The first ever item of "real" clothes that I sewed (ie not a fancy dress costume) was a black and white gored skirt (below left). There were lots of skirts like it around in the shops at the time so I thought I'd have a go at making my own. I was very proud of myself for my skirt, especially since I made up the pattern myself, however it does have quite a few construction flaws. I had no idea how to put a zip in so I made it up and "winged it", I didn't even think about finishing the raw edges, and I had the idea of adding a black trim near the waistband so I used ribbon and didn't think through that it would have needed to be curved and ended up making the top of the skirt a bit tight.

That was mid-2006, so fast forward 4.5 years to now and I have 5 skirts from pretty much the same pattern with slight permutations of numbers of gores, degree of flared-ness and adding a second "lining" layer to the skirt. (from left to right in order of when I made them in the above picture). (Plus another one that I made for a friend).

The most recent addition to the collection was stitched up on Boxing Day, but I only just managed to get photos of it this week (despite wearing it multiple times).

 

(Yes, the weather in Melbourne was a bit miserable last week - tights were required. Not impressed!)

This reincarnation has the (currently) unique addition of pockets. I added some pockets into the side-front panels, and to make them a bit more of a design feature stitched some grosgrain ribbon near the top of the pocket. I also added some grosgrain ribbon to the inside of the waist to stop it stretching out as the fabric is cut on the bias.

 

The fabric was one of the pieces I purchased in New York last year, with exactly this in my mind. It's a nice quality printed poplin (I think). The skirt also unique among my collection of being a good summer skirt but also a suitable fabric for wearing with tights.



The standing still photos don't really do the skirt justice - one of the best things about it is how floaty it is and we had lots of fun trying to get a photo that captured that quality. And of course, It's great for twirling!

(In case you're interested, these photos were taken on the steps of the Victorian Parliament building)