Since making the Peppermint Magazine Pocket Skirt, I’ve been thinking about the ease of wearing skirts and wanting to have more in my wardrobe. When I saw this fabric on sale, while browsing online, I knew I wanted to sew up a Wattlebird skirt.
Pattern: Wattlebird Skirt by Common Stitch, View B – modified
Fabric: Floral Crinkle Rayon fabric from Joann
Size: 10 AU
Modifications:
- View B: Two sections instead of three. I did the Top Panel, Mid Panel, and Frill (removed Bottom Panel).
- French Seams (added an extra 1cm to the width – though its unnecessary as this is a loose garment with plenty of width for gathering)
- Elastic for Waist: 26″ and 1″ overlap (effectively 25″).
This skirt is easy peasy to sew, even without a pattern. Though I love a pattern because it lets me turn my brain off and be in the flow of sewing and following instructions. This pattern does take a TON of thread because you baste 2 rows of stitches on the frill and mid panel to create the gathering. I found it challenging to gather or pull on the basting in this rayon fabric. I’m not sure why that happened, maybe it’s the crinkle of the fabric that creates more friction. I didn’t bother to remove the basting stitches after, as I sewed french seams – so the basting stitches ‘disappeared.’
Why did I sew french seams?
Because I don’t have a serger and this rayon fabric seemed prone to fraying. I also didn’t think a zigzag stitch would be enough to prevent significant fraying. French seams are easy to add to this garment. There is plenty of fabric – whether or not you add in additional seam allowance – and space for the french seams to sit (i.e. they don’t add extra bulk to the garment). While I didn’t take a photo of this, I did french seam EVERY seam, including the side seams and all the seams that connect each section of the skirt (i.e. the gathers).
Modifications to View B
It very easy to adjust the height of the individual panels or the number of panels you want to include. I left out the Bottom Panel because I wanted the total length of the skirt to hit around or below my knees.
About Sewing with Rayon
I tend towards cotton twills and linens when I sew, and I always have to look up how to work with new to me fabrics. I found this crinkle rayon to be very easy to work with. I followed conventional advice to use a new sharp needle, size 70/10. I also kept the walking foot on my machine, though I don’t feel like it was necessary – I was just too lazy to take it off from my last project. And before I even started, I pre-washed the fabric TWICE in a garment bag, on a delicate cycle (warm) and tumbled dried (warm, removed fabric from the garment bag for drying). Hopefully that prevents any uneven shrinking – though I read that rayon is significantly weakened when it’s wet, so I’ll try to keep laundering to a minimum to increase the longevity of the garment. Both of these articles were useful to me:
I’m happy with how this skirt turned out. I tend to wear it mid to high waist on my body and fitted the elastic for that. It’s a very light garment due to the rayon fabric – which I love and makes it perfect for wearing this summer. I also don’t have many floral patterns in my closet but I am obsessed with earth tones, like this ochre-mustard yellow. I hope I get a lot of use out of this garment! Happy sewing!
p.s. I’m wearing my Fawn skirt with the Blomma Tank in an olive waffle knit. This pattern is free if you sign up for Paradise Pattern’s newsletter (worth it!).
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