Skirt Nirvana - Cashmerette Ellis Skirt

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What can I say - this skirt makes me scream with joy.  This was supposed to be a muslin, but it turned into skirt nirvana.  The yoke lays perfectly against my back and there is no gapping in the back of the waistband - YES!

Cashmerette Ellis Skirt

How I Did It

This started out with the intention to be a muslin, but it fit so well there was no way I could call it a muslin - it was skirt nirvana (skirt perfection) imho 😁.

Fabric

When I saw this fabric at my local fabric store a couple of years ago I had to have it and I believe I bought all they had which was about 4 - 5 yards.  It's my happy fabric because it is so colorful.  It's a stretch denim.

Pattern Alterations

This really was supposed to be a muslin and one reason I chose it was because it had the yoke and the curved waistband like the jeans I made.  I figured if I could get the yoke and waistband perfected on this skirt then I could translate that to my jeans pattern.

I will admit it took some time to get there, but it was well worth it.  I have essentially one pair of purchased jeans that I wear.  I tried them on and realized the yoke laid flat against my back.  I made a pattern of the yoke and used that yoke to alter my pattern yoke

Top - Original Pattern Yoke,  Bottom - Yoke Altered to Fit me

I noted there was 1 1/4" difference between the pattern yoke and the pattern I made of the ready to wear yoke.  I drew lines about 2" apart and remove the difference from the inner curve  in 1/4" segments by slashing and overlapping.  I was nervous because the ready to wear yoke was flat and mine was really curved, but to my surprise it laid perfectly flat against my back.

I could not use the waistband from the ready to wear because there was gaping at the back.  So I did the same thing as with the yoke - made slash lines and removed 1/4' segments from the inner curve.  This took some hours because I would have to make the change and stitch the band to the waist and check the fit.  I had to repeat this process a number of times until I got the waistband to fit me.

Top - Original Pattern Waistband,  Bottom - Waistband Altered to Fit me

I ended up removing 2 - 1/2" (closest to center back)  segments and 2 - 1/4" segments removed from the inner curve.

List of Pattern Alterations

  • Removed 3" from the length
  • Removed a total of 2 1/2" from the inner curve of the yoke
  • Removed 3" from the inner curve of the waistband

Some Construction





























Finished Pictures















Conclusion

I absolutely love this skirt - it is comfortable and cute on me 😁.  It was so easy to sew and I love, love, love how they have you do the belt loops.  I will be making several more of this skirt.  I want to make one in a traditional denim.

What's Next

Working on another pair of jeans and still have not caught up with my postings yet.


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