Great pattern, unusual construction.

(Apologies for copy & paste text!)

I’ve made three of these, with varying degrees of success.  It’s a great pattern.

The first version was a stretch twill, which I lined because I have lining fabric to use up. This hangs really nicely although I only had room for one button on the waistband, not two. This practice version came out best of the three. Annoyingly.

The second was in a beautiful soft Merchant & Mills linen, unlined. The construction was easier but not the fabric (see below!).

The third is in a wool Challis. I lined this, too.

Pros: As always, the instructions are excellent. Pay careful attention to the wording when attaching pocket facings and plackets – I made the same error twice!  I also like the idea of hemming at the start of construction.  It’s not a difficult pattern, but see below. If in doubt, use a nice stable fabric like a twill or poplin.

Cons: These are entirely to do with fabrication.  Basically, an unstable fabric adds considerable challenges, as does lining. This is mainly because the first step is to attach the lining to the skirt, after which they are both hemmed. From that point, therefore, you’re working with the whole piece. It gets unwieldy and if lined, slippery. By the time the pockets are done, an unstable fabric will be frayed at the waistband. With both the linen and wool challis, this made finding the pleat notches a bit tricky.

Lining adds to the problem, particularly if it’s cheap. The challis waistband was a nightmare of cobwebby fibres and fabric threads.

Also, if you’re anxious about 3D stuff as I am, something like a fine wool won’t stand up well to repeated manipulation or unpicking.  I did something odd with the lining on one side, and despite very carefully lining up/stopping at notches, I had bunching which I couldn’t fiddle with any more as the challis was looking stressed at the multiple seam point.

I will make this again – it’s a lovely skirt and for once I don’t need to lengthen (I’m 5’8″ but the shape of this makes the below-knee length perfect).  I will only line stable fabrics, though – and I might try putting the pleats in first to reduce the vast flappiness while working on the pockets!