Draped maxi skirt 2012-10-16 12:22
How not to look (too much) like a watermelon when you’re pregnant?
Draped items work great (to be perfectly honest, they are the least worst). I made plenty of draped tops like this one, and discovered that using drapery for a long skirt might be worth a try.
And so it was, since I wore it many times with a cropped top, a long necklace and platform shoes. Not the kind of crazy-high platform shoes, just ones with a pretty comfortable heel, to help you keep your balance every time you take a pinguin like step with your big belly.
That kind of skirt is pretty simple to do, so here’s a little tutorial on how to do your own:
1. Choose a stretch fabric. The maxi skirt I made is for a size M, so add / remove a couple of centimeters for the width depending on which size you are. I would say a good rule of thumb, since the fabric is a stretch one, is to have the fabric width a bit smaller than your width at the hips line.
For the length, measure the length between your belly button and the floor, and add about 5 to 10 extra centimeters (don’t worry, you won’t end up tripping in your skirt, the extra cm are just to get a beautiful drapery). If it’s the first time you sew with an elastic thread to obtain a draped fabric, test it on a remain of fabric first to be sure to understand how much your fabric will be draped.
I used a hem allowance of 1 cm on the top and bottom of the skirt, since the fabric I used naturally gave a rolled hem. If you want to do another type of hem, add the necessary extra cm for it.
2. Fold your fabric in 2 along the width, and cut a rectangle with the measures you previously took.
3. Overlock the 2 rectangles on the left and right side (no need to overlock the top and bottom of the skirt because of the rolled hem)
4. Place the 2 rectangles with the right sides together using sewing pins to prevent them from moving apart, and sew with a straight stitch with 1 cm seam allowance from the top of the skirt to where you want to begin to drape the fabric (both on the left and right sides of the skirt). I begun the drapery after the hips line.
5. If you went like me with the naturally rolled hem, you can skip this step! If your fabric has enough stretch in it, it will roll naturally, otherwise you can always help it by stretching the hem on the width between your hands and the roll will take form.
If you prefer to have another type of hem, sew it before you begin with the drapery.
6. Using an elastic thread to create the drapery, continue to sew the left and right sides from where you stopped up until the bottom of the skirt.
7. If you feel like you don’t have enough drapery yet, follow your instinct and add other stitches with the elastic thread here and there. I thought it would be nice with a diagonal drapery from the top of the skirt to the hips line, as shown on the sketch.
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