Reversible wrap-around skirt
I pushed aside my crafty makes last week to make myself a couple of items of casual clothing that would be nice for wearing out to town, coffee dates or posing at the Tropic of Capricorn.
Wrap-around skirt love! Flexible fitting clothes are my top choice at the moment, but I'm not talking tents. Not having to commit to button or snap positions is also ideal. For the record, I used to love fitted clothes, but as I've matured, fitted clothing is no longer returning that love.
The Japanese quilting cottons I used in this skirt are both quite light weight, which makes them ideal for being used together in reversible clothing. Reversible clothes are sooo handy on a trip away too. The white buttons on red fabric is designed by Suzuko Koseki and was purchased from Miss Matatabi . I wish had another mile of this fabric!
The plain version of this skirt takes approximately 2.5 m of fabric.
The fabric with the temari balls on the black background, is also Japanese, but was purchased from Etsy store Fabric Supply. It is one of my very favourite places to shop for Japanese fabrics.
I've traced around the bottom edges of the skirt pattern to draft a facing which is cut at 7.5 cm wide. On the reversible skirt, the facing is visible of the black side as a decorative trim. The same facing pattern has been used on my brown Echino cotton/linen skirt to finish the raw edges. Topstitching holds the facing in place.
My favourite wrap-around skirt pattern is one I traced from an existing skirt found at a local op shop.
All the raw edges of this original skirt have been finished with twill tape folded over. The ties are the same tape.
I found this commercial pattern which is quite similar if you're interested in making your own wrap-around skirt.
The reversible skirt doesn't have a waistband or binding. I've just sewed the red and black fabrics together. To give the top of the skirt some stability and strength though, I included a 10 cm wide piece of sew-in medium weight interfacing. The top of this interfacing is cut to the same shape as the fabric pieces.
Instead of a waistband on the brown Echino skirt, I finished it with folded over grosgrain ribbon.
Instead of a waistband on the brown Echino skirt, I finished it with folded over grosgrain ribbon.
Not being a fan of ties for securing wrap skirts, I used two large press snaps on the Echino skirt and two *ahem* safety pins on the Japanese skirt for easy adjustment. We won't tell the sewing police about that one.
There is now a dress length version of the same pattern sitting next to my overlocker! The hints and tips given in the book are really helpful, even though I've been sewing knits for a long time. The success I've had with this first pattern is inspiring me to get cracking on another pattern from the book. 😊
It's been lovely getting to share some of my favourite sewing tweaks today. There are so many great ways we can personalise our home made wardrobe.
Thank you for reading along,
Kellie
xo