Green and Blue Polka Dot Mini Skirt – #52StylesInSeams No. 1

It’s finally 2021 and I’m starting to design, pattern and sew for my #52StylesInSeams project! This first make of the new year is an elevated staple – a high-waisted mini skirt. I’m serving preppy J. Crew circa 2014 vibes with this shiny green and blue polka dot skirt. I used remnant of fabric from my birthday jumpsuit to sew up a self-drafted simple skirt block. It’s a garment that brings a smile and I can wear it year round!

The #52StylesInSeams project was inspired by my last 2 makes of 2020 – my holiday party and new year’s eve dresses. For both projects I started with a vision, sketched, pattern drafted, sewed a muslin or two then sewed a stunning finished garment. Starting my 5th year as a self-taught sewist, this project to sew a new and challenging garment every week will help me learn and grow. That’s 52 stunning new styles for 2021!

MY goals for the #52StylesInSeams project

• Become more confident designing what’s in my head
• Practice pattern drafting skills
• Learn more sewing techniques with different silhouettes and fabrics
• Use my massive fabric stash
• Fail more, fail gracefully and make failing a part of the process, not perfectionism

This project will be my year-long love story with sewing. I hope to maintain my sewjo through the year and be more consistent with every aspect of being a sewing blogger. I’ll also have a weekly cycle of styling, taking photos, blogging, and vlogging my makes. Overall, this will be an avenue for creativity and joy amidst the bleak outlook of another year with the pandemic. It will be something I can control and grow from!

Join me on this journey! I’ll be posting the process live on Instagram, reviewing special projects on YouTube and sharing every make here on my blog. Let’s make this a conversation – leave me comments and let me know what you want to see next!

Pattern Review

• Self-drafted fitted mini skirt with a high waist
• Design process – I wanted to make a skirt block then found a suitable fabric in my stash
• Design considerations – With such a beautiful, busy fabric, I decided to create a simple skirt with no waistband
• Did it look like my drawing – Yes!
• Fit difficulty – 1/5
  • This was simple to draft based on my measurements and only needed adjustments for ease
• Sewing difficulty – 2/5
  • I put some extra pressure on myself to create a professional finish in a fine fabric
• I’ll sew many different fitted skirts with this block!

Fabric

• About 1/2″ yard of remnant of polyester jacquard from Metro Textiles
• The main fabric was leftover from my 30th birthday jumpsuit and there’s still a bit more for a coordinated project.
• Lined with a small remnant of black polyester lining
• I finished with black grosgrain ribbon and a blind hem
• This skirt would look great made of practically any bottomweight fabric! For heavier, more stable fabrics, consider not using a lining.

Process for drafting this pattern

• I used a YouTube tutorial by Chris Sartorial to draft my skirt block
• Since I have such a long rise, I broke the rules a bit and lengthened my darts to 5″ in the front and 6″ in the back
• My first muslin fit well, but I noticed a bit of tightness when sitting down so I graded out the hips an additional 1/4″ on each piece
• After the fit adjustments, I turned the draft into a pattern by tracing it onto new paper and adding seam allowance
• To draft the curved waist facing, I taped the darts closed on the first draft and traced the pattern to be 2″ tall plus seam allowances
• I drew a dashed line on my pattern to mark the length for the lining, less the waist facing and 3/4″ shorter at the hem

What I learned from drafting and sewing this mini skirt

• Always, always sit down and move around to make sure your muslin has enough ease to allow you to do all that you need to do!
• Simple is not bad! I sketched several more exciting designs for this skirt but ultimately a well-sewn simple skirt is what this fabric called for.

Techniques to get a professionally sewn skirt:

• Interface the skirt facing so it won’t stretch out at the waist
• Understitch the facing to keep it from flipping out
• Truly invisible zip plus a hook and eye closure
• Slipstitch the lining to the zipper by hand
• Inside seams are all overlocked
• Finish the raw edge of the blind hem with grosgrain ribbon (or Hug Snug seam binding) to keep the fabric from fraying

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Resources:

• Use this YouTube tutorial to draft your own block
• Pattern paper was my most essential tool for drafting this mini skirt