Chiffon Gabriola Skirt

Well I’ve finally finished my Gabriola skirt in chiffon, I’m so pleased with it, it’s taken about a week on and off. I’ve also finally got the sizing right with the pattern! This is the 3rd skirt I’ve made from this pattern and each time I’ve made it smaller to try and get it to fit first time without having to take 2″ off the back seam. This time I measured my waist, added a bit for seam allowances and overlap, then checked the length against the waistband measurements. The result was I made a size 6 and it fits me perfectly, now as I’ve had two kids, I’m the wrong side of 10 stone and only just the right side of 50, it’s a long time since I made a size 6 pattern!!!!

I bought the chiffon years ago, it’s made by John Kaldor and judging by the amount I bought, it must have been in  a sale! It’s sat there for years as I was almost too scared to sew it as I love it that much I didn’t want to ruin it!

I finally plucked up the courage to make the Gabriola skirt in it. I changed my machine needle (a rare occurrence!)I even opened a new box of Merchant and Mills pins for the occasion, I have to say it was awful to cut out, it moved if you so much as looked at it! Once that bit was past it was actually fine to sew!  I chose a blue cotton to interline it, I  tried a light green first which did match perfectly, but when I put the blue under it it just seemed to sing! I had to alter the way I made the skirt to allow for the chiffon, so these are the changes I made…

I hand basted each yoke chiffon piece with the matching cotton piece, then stitched as one according to pattern instructions, however I then stitched the yoke front to the back at the sides. Next I stitched all the cotton skirt pieces together, I flat-felled the seams to get a neat finish. With some trepidation I then stitched all the chiffon skirt pieces together using French seams. I had to concentrate hard  as I couldn’t tell which was the right side of the material and I didn’t want to find I’d stitched the seam on the outside!

I laid the chiffon skirt over the cotton skirt and tacked the two together, folding the centre back seam allowance under on the chiffon skirt.  I then attached it to the yoke, the side seams were a little awkward to get  neat but I got there in the end. I hand stitched the zip onto the cotton skirt and then slip stitched the chiffon skirt to the edges of the zip, this meant that at the bottom of the zip the chiffon skirt wasn’t folded in with the cotton skirt.

Yesterday was Friday Night Sew In, a virtual get together organised by Sugar Lane Designs, I spent the evening hemming my Gabriola Skirt! I hemmed the cotton skirt first about 2″ shorter than I wanted the final length. I found some instructions on how to sew a narrow hem on chiffon on Sew Country Chick (http://www.sewcountrychick.com/make-a-tiny-18-inch-couture-hem-for-sheer-fabrics/) I was a bit concerned that it was a curved hem but I have to say it worked a treat!

I’m really pleased with my skirt, it swishes beautifully, I can’t wait to wear it!