Who’s gonna know I drafted and sewed this skirt in less than 4 hours into the night before my flight? I was traveling to Turks and Caicos – my first trip to the Caribbean and first big girls trip with some of my college friends – and just had to wear this vision. So with 30 minutes of drafting time and 3 hours of sewing time, I made it happen. And I’ve included the steps to draft and sew a woven ruched mini skirt so you can make it too! Maybe give yourself more time, lol.
Here’s the thing – I don’t really know how to drape…yet. My pattern drafting skills have mostly developed from my obsession with making clothes that fit well. In other words, I’ve always focused removing unwanted volume rather than creating designs with intentional volume. (Of course there are exceptions; like my tiered circle skirt pattern.) But the vision for this fabric was a skirt with pleats and drapes. I made several drafts on paper trying to understand how to create that volume across the front through loose pleats and tucks. Eventually, pressed for time, I realized the easiest way for me to take pressure off of the paper drafting process was to add volume through ruching. The ruching ties gather added length from the skirt and give me the freedom to adjust how drapey and how short I want the skirt to be. In other words, I didn’t have to worry about perfecting the pattern because the I could fix it with the way it was tied.
The draping in this skirt is a beautiful complement to the scale of the print on this fabric by Nanette Lepore. Generally a floral this large is paired with a large garment like a maxi skirt or oversized jacket to show off the full print. Instead, I decided to lean into the colors of the flowers against the vivid green background and use the ruching to abstract the print in a smaller design. (Not to mention the lime green would have been too overwhelming across my 6’2″ body so I only bought 1.5 yards.) It was a bit challenging to create the bulkier ties with this fabric, but the medium weight holds the drapes beautifully.
Hot in the tropics
The skirt gives me Farmrio vibes. It was absolutely perfect for a night out with my friends in Turks and Caicos. I paired it with my orange silk ikat bustier then and absolutely will wear that pairing again for a date night. For toned down summer weekend look it could look great with a teal green top. Or, for a summer-chic office to rooftop happy hour outfit (when those come back again) I might pair it with a crisp white button down. One lite-bright lime green top has so many options.
I’m still stunned that I was able to sew this up on the eve of my flight. And I’m super satisfied with my finished skirt!
Pattern
- Self-drafted, using my skirt block but see below for instructions
- Fit Difficulty – 1/5
- I was confident this skirt would fit because I tried on my green polka dot skirt made from my block before I hacked it here
- Sewing Difficulty – 2/5
- Overall this fabric and design is very easy to sew. However, turning out the ties in this thick-ish fabric was very difficult and time consuming.
- I think this pattern would beautiful in a satin fabric
Fabric
- Green floral cotton print from Mood Fabrics NYC
- Fabric is a Nanette Lepore archival print from 2008
- My favorite jacket is also made from Nanette Lepore fabric
How to draft the pattern for a woven ruched mini skirt
- Start with a well-fitting skirt block. Mine has darts in front and back and a center back zip. I also have a facing for front and back.
- Fold a large piece of tracing or pattern paper to fit the full skirt front (both halves). Align the fold of the skirt pattern with the fold of paper. Trace your notches, grainline, hipline and other important markers. Mark a notch to indicate the center of each dart.
- Measure the width and length of the darts. Bring in the waist by as much as each side seam, curving and tapering down to the dart length.
- Determine how long you want the skirt to be. Your skirt will stay that length in the back and side but be ruched and lose inches along your ties. I chose to make my skirt 4 inches longer than my fingertip-length mini skirt which is 24″ total. Add that length to front and back patterns.
- Cut out the full front pattern with adjustments reflected symmetrically. Continue to trace any notches, as needed.
- From the center of the left dart, draw a vertical line from the waist to the hem, parallel to the grain line. Mark a spot at your hipline (or where you want the split to start.) At the hem, measure 3″ to the left and right of the line. Draw a line from the hipline spot to each spot on the hem. Cut out the triangle that forms. Continue cutting along the line up to the waistline. Label your pieces right and left.
- Add 1 inch of seam allowance to each side of your cutting line to accommodate the ties and hem.
- For the ties, measure the length of your skirt and add 10 inches. Cut 2 ties at that length with 1.5″ width.
How to sew this pattern
- Interface your facings, stitch darts in the back, and finish all of your edges as you would for a basic skirt pattern
- For the ties – fold right sides together over a long piece of yard or cording. Sew across the string on one short end to secure. Then, without sewing over the cording, sew down the length of the long side of the tie with 3/8″ seam allowance. Trim your seam allowances then use the string to pull and turn out the ties. Fold over the raw edge at the bottom of each tie and stitch down.
- Stitch the left and right front panels together with 1″ seam allowance, stopping before the triangle split of the skirt. On the right side of the fabric, topstitch 3/8-1/2″ from the seam line on each side to create channels for the ties.
- Use a safety pin to insert the ties from the bottom up to the waistline. Baste in place at the waist.
- Fold over the seam allowance on each side of the split and stitch down. Make sure you leave a gap for the ties to poke through.
- Add an invisible zipper to the back. Stitch on the facing. And finish the hem
