A statement skirt

Inspired by runway collections from the last couple of seasons, I decided to create a statement skirt combining various fabrics, pleating and ribbon trim.

I took The Ultimate Pencil Skirt pattern as my starting point with a navy wool fabric as the base. I chalked the pattern piece shapes on the wool fabric, with an initial length of 80cm.

First I took a length of vintage taffeta millinery fabric with a width of 44cm and halved the width and randomly pleated it to create a strip 22cm wide and 72cm long. The pleats are held in place by stitching down at both edges of the strip. I placed this on the left hand side of the skirt front.

I then pleated a 25cm wide strip of striped cotton fabric to create a pleated trim at the hem of the skirt back. Prior to pleating I turned the hem edge up by 1cm pressed and stitched as close to the edge as possible, trimmed off the excess fabric and turned again and stitched to create a micro hem. I redrew the skirt back to a length of 54cm. I made up the skirt back with an invisible zip and added the pleat trim to the hem, giving a finished length of 75cm once the waistband facing was added at the end.

The skirt front I redrew, removing 20cm from the left hand side, where I then attached the pleated taffeta strip. I attached the back to the other side of the skirt front and then randomly placed 3cm wide grosgrain ribbon on the skirt, working across seams.

I machine stitched this in place except for at the folded sections which I left free to add a 3D element on the plain wool fabric. I then stitched the back to the other side of the pleated taffeta. 

I turned up the remaining front hem in line with the back. Then finally added the waistband facing to complete the skirt.

For me mixing these different fabrics and textures work as I kept the whole skirt in a single colour. I’ll wear it with a simple crew necked sweater and some knee high boots.