Mother's Day Maxi

I've been seriously lusting after a bright pink Maxi skirt like this one and this one. And I really dig the high slit on this one.

So I took elements that I loved from all of them and made my own. The fabric is a poly crepe from Vogue Fabrics. It isn't my favorite fiber to sew, but this design was simple enough that it wasn't too bad. Fusible thread tamed the beast.

I started by drafting a floor length column skirt (OK, a big rectangle with the width as my hip measurement and the length as the distance from my waist to the floor). I wanted some flow in the hem, so I slashed and spread at the hem to use the full width of my fabric at the hem only. I added an allowance for a 1/2 inch elastic casing at the top -  more on that in a sec - then cut two full width panels.

I seamed the two panels together on one side only. I used a french seam, since this is the only seam in the entire skirt, I thought it ought to be nice. Now I have a giant semicircular panel that goes around me twice. I made a baby hem around the two side edges and the bottom hem.

Then I wrapped the skirt around itself, with the two hemmed edges up against the seam - one on the inside and one on the outside of the skirt.

This way, I had the look of a long side slit, but with a full layer of skirt underneath for modesty. The unseamed side also allows for a lot of flow at the hemline.

For the waistband, I wanted a bit of width to encourage it to lie flat and to look a bit more like pleats (but without having to pleat 80 inches of polyester crepe - no thank you!). I used this method, with 1/2 inch elastic in a casing at the top and shirring for 4 rows every 1/4 inch. When I finished, it looked strange with the 1/2 inch elastic next to the 1/4 inch shirring, so I added a row of topstitching through the center of the elastic casing. This gives the added benefit of preventing the elastic from rolling in the casing.

I wore my new maxi with a RTW tee shirt and my Vogue 1099 jacket. I've had a hard time styling this jacket, but I really like it with a long skirt. I think the volume at the hem of the skirt helps balance the volume at the hem of the jacket.