Purple Skirt

The next part of my Edwardian outfit was a purple fan skirt. I used another pattern by Black Snail Patterns, #0414 Fan-Skirt about 1890. I felt this was probably similar enough to make do for 1900-1910ish times. It’s basically one front piece and two ENORMOUS back pieces, a waistband, placket and pockets. The instructions say to flatline the outside fabric, so I cut out the giant pieces from a purple/black striped fabric and from a white poly-cotton stuff. Followed the rest of the instructions and sewed it together, wrangling this enormous heap of fabric. After essentially getting winded from sewing a single seam, I decided that it might be time to weigh the whole thing; 1.5 kilos, oof. That was too much. I kept 30 cm of the cotton stuff around the hem, stuck it down with steam-a-seam and cut out all the rest, essentially having to remake my skirt again.

It’s got a giant inverted pleat in the back, and closes with a placket and hooks/eyes. I chose to do the subtly pointed waistband (because I love pointed waistbands). This pattern actually includes pockets! As no good skirt is without pockets, I really appreciate that. These ones are a little deep though, I’m not sure I can reach the bottom of the pockets while standing straight. At least that means that I might not need a backpack… The hem is so large that it took me three episodes of Crime Scene Investigation to hand sew it down. I think I may also need to make the bustle pad that is included with the pattern, that would make the back stick out a little more.

The waistband is based on a corseted waist, which means that it’s not too nice to wear without. However, wearing the corset is nice because it distributes the weight. The one remark I have about the pattern is that I didn’t understand the dart in the front. It looked to me that I was supposed to cut it on the lines. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however, since the waistband didn’t fit when I did that. I tried it on the flatlining fabric first, and then decided not to cut the dart on the outside fabric. I still have the pieces of the flatlining that were cut out, so I think I’ll try to make a petticoat from them – I have been thinking that for a few weeks and still haven’t started on that…

Author: Luus

Sewing, knitting, reading and listening to lots of podcasts. View all posts by Luus