It’s been HOT here in Portland, in the 90’s the past few days, and I’ve been only wanting to wear dresses and skirts to try to beat the heat.
On my sewing to-do list have been fun, lightweight and easy to wear skirts. As an inspiration, I’ve seen cute printed a-line or pleated skirts that are fast and easy to sew, and even easier to wear. Here are some of my inspirations:
I had some nice black and white Ikat printed medium weight cotton fabric in my stash,
plus black Bemberg rayon lining material which I usually have on hand or left over from another project, so I decided to make up a cute little pleated skirt for myself using New Look 6873 pattern which I have had forever in my pattern stash:
New Look 6873 pattern illustrations
Well, the pattern sizing turned out to be pretty terrible and I spent most of my time fitting, ripping out stitches, and re-sewing this skirt. It was HUGE! I followed the size chart and cut the size that matched closest to my measurements. I had to take out about 2 inches at each side seam of the skirt and the waistband in order for the skirt to even come close to fitting my waist. It was almost as if I had forgotten to sew a couple of pleats it was so big!
After fitting it and re-sewing, the skirt took about twice as long as it could have to make. Plus, I added a lining to this using the pattern pieces of view C, the A line skirt with no pleats. so that added some additional time, but totally worth it.
All said and done, I probably won’t sew this pattern again. I really should be drafting my own patterns at this point anyway. I thought it would be a time saver to use a commercial pattern where the pattern work was done for me, but that was not the case here.
Oh well, now I have a cute little skirt in a great print and I am happy!
Stay cool!
odetosew 
Stephanie, your skirt turned out as beautiful as your inspiration picture(s). Your perfect fit makes the longer project look worth it. I chide myself on not making all my own patterns too, but I learn so much from these misfits that I think it’s a great part of the learning process to becoming a master. I hope you make up your own for this skirt – you’ve already got it perfect.
Thank you Joan!! I do feel that using pre-made patterns has sharpened my skills for garment construction and alterations to the patterns. I do need to use all the slopers and pattern making skills that I have learned at PFI, but I usually just want to crank out something to wear and don’t take the time to draft and test my own patterns!
Looks great! Those big four patterns are always huge.. I can draft but sometimes you just want something easy and you wouldn’t think you could go too far wrong with something like this skirt. Annoying that it took so long! Good on you for taking the effort to re-size.
Agreed on the poor sizing of the big 4 patterns; I’ve come to expect that and to need to make adjustments as needed, but this one was ridiculous! I should have snapped a photo of the amount I cut off.
I wonder if it was my oversight and lack of measuring properly, but I’ve learned to take the time to do this before I cut, so probably not. I’m just happy I could save my project and be able to wear it!