New Skirt with modifications

I got new fabric and a new pattern. Gentle readers may ask themselves why does she have either of these since it appears that she needs neither. As my mother used to tell me if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. Let's move on shall we:)

Another sewer on Instagram shared a new pattern company find the other month, Rivet Patterns. The designers does not have a huge range of patterns yet, but I liked the ones I saw. You can always use a good gathered skirt pattern so I thought i would try the free pattern, the Forsythia Gathered Skirt. It intrigued me because it is drafted for both knits and wovens. It is not easy to find patterns drafted for both fabric types. Knits and wovens behave much differently when wearing and when sewing. The majority of the time you cannot use a pattern designed for knits with a woven and vice versa.

I stopped into Hobby Lobby the other day because i need just a little bit more sweatshirt fleece to finish a project. The every other week 40% off all fabric was occurring so some other items jumped in my cart. I bought a few yards of what was labeled Fake Wool in a purple heathered color scheme. A vision of a lovely gathered warm skirt to wear with boots was dancing in my head.

The directions were clear and understandable for the pattern with line drawings and only a few pages long. Pockets were an option and you know I put those on the skirt for sure.

All was going along quite well until I attached the waistband. Whilst making the skirt I thought it seemed very wide. I knew it had to be a little wider than normal to account for the gathering, but once i inserted the elastic...but. It was way too bulky around the waist. I don't know much but bulkiness around the waistline is not a look I wish to encourage. Frankly there is enough of the bulkiness on the waist of me naturally no need to accent that! I think I can take off a good 4 inches in width on the skirt and it will be fine.

Now to make some decisions. I cut the fabric based on my measurements and yes I did go to the gym for a workout this past week. Miracles do not happen in one workout and I certainly did not loose 4 inches around my waist after just one tiny workout. The mismatch could be due to me using the incorrect measurement to select my size. When you measure there is the waist and hip measurements to consider. I believe I had a user error and used the incorrect measurement to select my size. Well that ship has already sailed so now I need to think about what I can do to make the skirt wearable.

I could do a very easy and simple fix. Cut the skirt up the back, cut off about an inch and a half on each side. Sew the seam back up and reattach the waistband.

Another option is to totally deconstruct the entire skirt. It involves removing the waistband (not a problem it has to be removed no matter what) and then unpicking the side seams and pocket insertion. After all that it would just be easier to start all over from scratch and make an entirely new skirt. I topstitched the pockets in and I like my seam ripper, but not that much.

I am back to cutting the skirt up the back. I think a straight seam up the back would look odd. I can still cut the skirt and then add a kick pleat. This would mean it would not look like I made a mistake in creating the skirt. The kick pleat is not necessary, it would simply be a design decision.

I could also insert a zipper on the back seam. I have to reconstruct the waistband anyway (it will have to be shortened). Now I know it seems like I magically made 4 inches disappear off my waist overnight, but I have a sneaking suspicion those 4 inches will reappear soon rather than later. A gathered elastic waistband is more forgiving of winter fluff than a lapped zipper. Due to the fabric selection this is a winter skirt.

This is the backside of the fabric. I am off to begin the salvage operation.