White Summer Skirt

When I saw this white fabric at an estate sale, I thought it was cute (although it also slightly reminded me of a tablecloth). The fabric was taped up, so I wasn’t sure how much yardage there was, but I happily bought it for $2. When I got home and measured it, I found it was a 45 inch fabric with two yards. I thought there was probably enough fabric that I could make a skirt with it.

I decided a pleated skirt would work well with the fabric’s horizontal woven pattern, and chose this 1950s skirt pattern as a reference. I’ve used this skirt pattern before (with some adjustments), so I knew it was a simple skirt to make. And I didn’t have any major issues with this skirt (beside some slippage of the pleats when basting, which was annoying).

The main addition I made was adding a lining to the skirt since I thought the white fabric had some transparency issues. I selected some cheap off-white broadcloth from my fabric stash for my lining. I used a simple A-line skirt shape from another pattern as my basic pattern (disregarding the darts and shortening the length); the main point I had to keep in mind was the lining’s circumference had to match the skirt’s circumference. The lining tacked on some additional hours, but I think it was well worth it.

The original pattern called for more length in the skirt, but with the limited amount of fabric I had, I had to shorten it (which I think worked out fine). Also, instead of the prettier hem using bias tape the pattern specified, I decided on doing a narrow hem out of necessity.

If I had more fabric, I would have liked to have used the woven pattern horizontally across the waistband, but sadly, this was not to be. Overall I’m happy with my skirt. It is a bit large, but it’s not a huge issue. I think this skirt cost about $7 in total; $2 for white fabric, $3 for lining fabric, $1 for thread and $1 for the zipper and eyes and hooks. And I think it’s a really great skirt for summer.