Navy Pinstripe Flounce Skirt

I made this skirt for my DD and can hardly wait to make one for myself as well.

This navy pinstripe was intended as a wearable muslin, since I drafted the pattern, starting with a Vogue skirt pattern, and made extensive modifications. I wanted to make sure it fit my DD perfectly before cutting into the fabric she actually chose for the skirt. I had lots and lots of this pinstripe fabric, but only barely enough of the fabric she really wanted. So I decided to make two skirts for her, the pinstripe one just to see how it all went together, and then a second one.

The skirt is a version of the "Fluttering Pencil Skirt"; shown on the Anthropologie website (http://www.anthropologie.com/).

The Inspiration:
I am indebted to two Stitcher's Guild members, Blessedtosew and Shams for their inspiration and insight into the making of this skirt. I followed in their footsteps, albeit veering off the path now and again to add my own point of view and methodology. Blessedtosew's creation can be found here, and Shams' excellent tutorial can be found here .


Skirt Photo:

Lightened to show detail:







Paired with a simple RTW blouse:

More photos:

Back view:

Right side seam showing ruching or pleating of unstitched dart legs

Side back view

Side front view:

Front view:

Pattern used:

I started with Vogue 8771, View C. It is an out-of-print (OOP) pattern

Materials:

Fabric: 100% Polyester menswear pinstripe fabric, light blue pinstripe on navy blue

Universal Size 80 needle in Elna serger and Janome 6600 sewing machines

Thread:
Mettler Metrosene 100% Polyester Thread in sewing machine
Maxilock 100% polyester thread in serger machine loopers

Machines used:
Janome 6600 computerized sewing machine
Elna 905 five thread serger

Fusible Interfacing: Angel Weft from http://www.appleannies.com/

Pretreatment: The fabric was prewashed in warm water with small amount of detergent and dried on Permanent Press setting. No shrinkage at all.


Things I did with this project (that weren't in the pattern instructions):

I made many modifications to the pattern pieces. In fact, I made so many modifications that not a single original pattern piece was left untouched.

1. Front drape:
The front drape is essentially a circular ruffle. I made the following changes:

a. Increased the width of the drape piece by 1/2 inch.

b. Self lined the circular front drape: That is, I cut 2 of the circular drape pieces and seamed them together using the serger along the outside edges, right sides together. Then I turned and pressed the piece, right side out and attached the raw edge to the lower front skirt pieces.

c. Shortened the drape by the same amount that I shortened the lower skirt piece.

d. Elongated the hem end of the front drape piece for a neater turn-under at the hem. The resulting pattern piece looked like this:

2. Front and Back Skirt Yoke:

Modified to form a V-shape at the front and back of the skirt.

Additional yoke modification:

For use with striped fabric, I wanted the stripes to follow the angles formed by the "V". To do this, I had to divide each yoke piece in two and change the original yoke grainlines.

Therefore, I split the yoke vertically at the point where the V is formed and divided the front and the back yokes into two pieces with a seam at the “V” .
I changed the grainline of the split front and back yoke V-shaped pattern pieces to follow the lower seamline so that the striped fabric would follow the yoke/lower skirt seamline’s angle.

3. Lower Skirt Front and Lower Skirt Back:

a. Eliminated the side back and center back seaming, creating a single lower skirt back pattern piece.

b. Altered the lower skirt pieces’ upper seamlines to meet the altered yokes’ lower seamlines

c. Moved the back zipper closure to the left side

d. To form the three pleats at the lower right side:

• Traced off a second altered lower right skirt front and altered lower skirt back piece. Used the original altered pieces for lower skirt lining pattern pieces.
• Added triangular-shaped unsewn darts from the lower edge of the altered right skirt front and the altered back pieces to the opposite seamlines.
• These darts were made by splitting the lower skirt pattern piece in three places from the area just above the right hemline, angling upward to the opposite side of the skirt. The split was pivoted open to a width of 2 inches at the right seamline, tapering to nothing at the left seamline. The triangular (dart shaped) openings were filled with pattern paper, with the edges of the darts clearly marked.
• These inserted darts caused the original grainline marking of the skirt to curve. I chose to mark the grainline along the center front line of the dressform at the point where the lower skirt joins the yoke, both in front and back. A picture below clarifies this grainline.
  

Here are the altered pattern pieces:

Front of skirt: Yoke and Lower skirt pieces:

Back of skirt: Split yoke and lower skirt pieces:

4. Lining Pieces:


I used the lower skirt pieces (tracings made before the darts were drafted into the pattern), joining the seams in the front, for the altered lower front lining piece.

I used the V-shaped yoke pieces to self-line the yoke areas with fashion fabric.


Similarly, the lower skirt back lining was made from a tracing of the lower skirt piece before the darts were drafted in to the piece:

A note about the lower skirt grainline, after the piece has been altered to include the darts:

Once the darts are placed into the front and back lower skirt pieces, there comes the question about where the grainline for these pieces should be drawn. This is because inserting the darts by slicing and pivoting the pattern pieces skews the original grainline.

The grainline can be drawn back in in one of two ways:


1. Perpendicular to the floor, as I have done in the pattern pieces shown above. For additional clarification, here is a striped muslin showing the grainline perpendicular to the floor (parallel to the center front of the body):

2. Perpendicular to the skirt's hem. I did not use this grainline orientation.

Sewing Method:

1. Applied fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the yoke pieces to be joined to the lower skirt pieces. (no interfacing on the yoke facing pieces).
   
   
2. Joined the right and left yoke pieces together for the front and back yokes.
   
   
3. Pressed the back yoke seam allowance open
   
   
4. Pressed both front yoke seam allowances toward the left side
   
   
5. Applied fusible stay tape to the inside waistline seam of the yoke pieces
   
   
6. Applied fusible stay tape to the wrong side of the lower right skirt front's vertical seam. This is because that seam is biased, due to the alterations for the side pleating. I wanted to preserve the seam length.
   
   
7. Stitched the darts at the right edge of the skirt front and skirt back for a distance of 2 inches.
   
   
8. Left the rest of the darts unsewn. Pressed the stitched area with the dart facing downward.
   


9. Serged the circular drape pieces together, right sides facing, on the outer edge, resulting in a ¼ inch seam allowance.
   


10. Turned and pressed the drape.
    


11. Serged together the remaining raw edges of the circular drape piece (the seam allowance that would join to the skirt).
    


12. Stitched the drape to the right front skirt piece.
    


13. Attached the left front skirt piece
    


14. Stitched the lower skirt portion to the yoke portion for both the front and the back of the skirt.
    


15. Inserted an invisible zipper in the left side seam. Finished off that side seam
    


16. Stitched the right side seam, matching the dart stitching of the front piece to the dart stitching of the back piece.
    


17. Attached the lower skirt lining pieces to the yoke facing pieces.
    


18. Sewed the side seams of the lining/facing sections, leaving the area adjacent the zipper unsewn.
    
    
19. Attached the facing to the skirt at the waistline.
    
    
20. Handstitched the lining to the zipper tape.
    
    
21. Stitched a 1 ½ inch hem in the skirt.
    
    
22. Trimmed 1 inch off the lower edge of the skirt lining, and stitched a 1 ½ inch seam in the lining.

Things I learned, or was reminded of in this project:

I was once again reminded of the generosity of the sewing community. Having Blessedtosew's and Shams' paths to follow made the drafting and sewing of this skirt much easier.


Things I would do differently, were I to make this skirt again:

I can't think of anything. My DD loves her skirt, and it fits her like a dream.

I am eager to make a second one for her (she has already chosen the fabric, lighter in weight and color) and one for myself as well. It is a fun skirt to make!

An added note on December 10th:

First of all, thank you so much for the wonderful compliments.

Someone asked if they wanted to make this skirt, should they get the OOP Vogue that I used, or could they use another pattern. Honestly, I think that any pencil skirt pattern with a yoke would be a great place to start. As I mentioned, by the time I finished with the drafting and alterations, it was not much of an advantage to have started with this particular Vogue pattern.