You may recall an earlier post when I made a wrap around skirt for myself using camouflage fabric purchased from New Threads, Weyhill. That incarnation was a “Tester” to see how I got on with drafting the pattern from a grid diagram and enlarging same from a size 16 to a ?X! After several pieces of “finessing”, I arrived at a well-fitting skirt pattern.

Having re-drawn the pattern including all those little adjustments onto fresh paper, I decided to proceed with a second skirt. I used a linen-look cotton purchased from Fabricland in Salisbury. I laid out the pattern pieces onto the 45 inch wide fabric and noted that because of the wide width of the skirt at the hem line they did not fit. I had already drafted a dart in the back so opened this up and at the same time folded out the width at the hem until the pattern fitted the width of the fabric. For the front I identified midway between the side and the centre front. I then slashed a dart and again folded out the fullness from the hem which at the same time enlarged the dart. I am hoping that this technique for reducing fullness at the hem will work. In any event it will be a “learning experience”!

The overlocker was threaded up with White thread and as this fabric definitely requires some sort of finish to the raw edges I decided to use Hong Kong binding. I cannot remember the last time I used this technique thus it was a good idea to re-visit. I cut the bias strips ¾ inch wide from a pretty blue floral printed cotton and finished the raw edges of all the side seams of the skirt, i.e. two side seams on the back plus side seams and “leading edges” on each of the front panels before proceeding with the construction of the skirt.

Once the side seams had been stitched the fit was fine-tuned again by making a seam in the centre back and taking out approximately 2½ inches, adjusting the darts slightly and re-cutting the “leading” edge of the overlap of the right front. To do this I unpicked the left dart and cut a straight line through the centre of the dart down to the hemline. I restitched the hong kong finish to the “leading” edge and finished binding to the hemline. I pinned the hem plus the “leading edges” of the two front pieces. These were then stitched by hand with a fine hem stitch so that the stitches were almost invisible. I hung the skirt up whilst I got on with the waistband and tie fastening.

I used Vilene 220 fusible interfacing in the waistband which was cut from 3 widths of the fabric x 4inches wide. Having decided on the length of tie required to hang from the right front (overlap) I pinned the remainder of the waistband to the skirt. By auditioning the length of the waistband wraparound I ended up by cutting of an excess 10 inches or so from the original 3 fabric widths of waistband and tie. I stitched the short ends of the ties right sides together, then folded in ½ inch turnings before folding the band and ties in half and pinning before top stitching the ties and “stitched in the ditch” the waistband. Finally I machined a vertical buttonhole in the waistband just close to the side seam of the back right panel. The tie slips through the buttonhole from the left underlap and is then on the outside, goes around the back of the waist and is tied to the shorter tie extending from the right overlap. The photo below shows the overlap turned back to reveal the Hong Kong finish on the seams and hemline. I am very pleased with the result and think that I may well make this skirt again in another plain colour to co-ordinate with all my Autumn/Winter tops. If I can find a wide width fabric I will be able to make the skirt long enough to wear with boots and without exposing my knees!