Vogue 1018 - Sandra Betzina Skirt

Oooh, I just love this Sandra Betzina skirt.  It's funky and asymmetric and I love funky and asymmetric.  I had close to 5 yards of this very unusual fabric.  It's very lightweight, drapey, 100% polyester in a scrumptious stripe with polka dots.  It feels similar to a very lightweight ripstop nylon. I think of it as a novelty seersucker because it has that quality to it.  It also has a chenille yarn that runs through the stripe.  You can see a closeup of the fabric here:



I wanted something special for this fabric and I hoped this skirt would be perfect. It's basically an a-line skirt with a drape and the fabric has some tucks sewn into it to create interesting texture and hang.

I did make one significant change to the pattern. It has a shaped, fitted yoke and I hate skirts with a rigid fit at the waist/hips. So, I added about 10" to the pattern at the waist to convert it to an elastic waistband. (I didn't want to just cut a larger size because I don't like to be drowned in too much fabric -- I cut the pattern in a size to fit my hips.) I did cut the drape in a larger size because I wasn't quite sure how to just enlarge that. It worked ok, I guess. (I cut the skirt in a size D and the drape in a size G.) The new yoke is a rectangular piece and I didn't even measure it -- I just cut it out and sewed it to fit. You can see the elastic waist here:



The only other modification I made was to change the grainline on the drape. I cut that so that the stripe would parallel the front edge of the drape. I wanted that bold stripe to be featured in the design

I did line it with navy sandwashed rayon fabric. So soft. I wasn't going to, but the skirt fabric was a little too lightweight, I felt.

Here it is: