My Maxi Skirt

 I was at Fabric Depot early in the summer buying more airplane fabrics when another customer plopped this bolt up on the cutting counter. I had to know what she was making.

She was making another (!) maxi dress for her daughter.
I instantly fell in lust with the stripe variations and had to have some for myself which makes the fabric cutter person deliriously happy because she doesn't have to put a bulky knit fabric bolt back out on the floor display.

I had been seeing maxi dresses all over since early spring. Oregon may be known as a fashion forward thinking state but we are ridiculously backward when it comes to following trends.
I knew with my height and width, I couldn't pull off a maxi-dress but I could do a skirt.

I've been wearing this all summer and getting a photo snapped of myself is rather beyond my abilities so you get the hanger shot.
I wear it with a plain old white t-shirt. I should go shopping for something more dressy but it's not high on my list of things to do in my very limited spare time.

 I had t-shirt ribbing in my stash and pieced a waistband and gathered the width I wanted into it.
I serged the skirt and waistband together and then I used my coverstitch machine to do a triple stitch around it.
The most time-consuming aspect of the skirt was deciding if the stripes AROUND my body were more fattening or whether the stripes down would possibly make me taller.
Talk about mirror time.

This has been my go-to summer outfit. I was at the Bend Ampthitheater this July for a RIngo Starr concert and the ladies who were maxi-dressing looked special. The gals with jeans and t-shirts, or shorts & t-shirts looked too casual, dowdy, and not special.
This simple skirt makes you feel good, makes other notice you, and for once, slightly on trend!

 My knit is a very thin rayon that doesn't curl much. I was worried the rayon would be hot so I utilized the wide, white selvedge to make a side-slit. OMG, truly an inspired slit that wafts in the breeze and keeps your legs cool.
That said, sitting down when it's superhot, your skirt is gonna stick to you in a pluck-it-away-from-your-body moment.
Standing and walking is the best way to wear a flowing maxi-skirt.

My other confession? I didn't hem this. The ends didn't curl and I wasn't certain how low I'd wear this on my waist/hip.   So, I left it.   And didn't mind it.


I didn't use a pattern. Once I decided the stripes were going round my body, I figured out how much length to cut off. Tried it on again to figure out width for walking. Decided on the slit. Sewed a sloping seam from just above knee up to waist. Sewed on waist band. Coverstitch for band.
I would say 1 1/3 width (waist/hip measurement) for this thin knit for gathers and walkability.
I bought 1 1/2 yards of 54" wide fabric.