A Split Skirt For Chasing Goats

Sewing my World Race wardrobe was fun! I used it as an excuse to make a few items outside of my normal style, such as a split skirt.

For some reason last fall, I'm not really sure why, I became rather fixated on the idea of making a split skirt to bring on the Race. I'd heard that in Africa women only wore skirts, no pants. So I thought maybe I could make a split skirt to wear in Africa on days I really didn't want to wear a skirt. Thus, I decided to make a split skirt of some sort.
I considered multiple different methods of making one, and looked at many different patterns, before finally picking Butterick 3836 up at an online pattern sale. Well, once the pattern was bought I knew the split skirt idea would actually have to happen so I picked up 3 yards of dark green poly suiting at the Mennonite fabric store and set to work.

I really liked the full A-line shape of the pattern and I absolutely loved the button-placket detail on the front waistband, but once I was ready to cut my split skirt out I saw there were a couple of changes that needed to be made. First, I would need to add pockets. To do that I altered the front pattern piece to accommodate pockets and drafted a pocket bag pattern.

That was easy enough. The second alteration I wanted to make didn't require any change to the pattern itself, just to the construction of the garment.
As I mentioned, one of my favorite features of the pattern was the front button placket. According to the pattern, that placket was just for show, there was supposed to be an invisible in the center back seam. Well, I'm not a huge fan of putting in zippers, and I really like buttons. So I skipped the zipper, sewed up the center back seam, and figured out how to make that decorative button placket fictional.

I'm quite happy with the result! This split skirt has gotten lots of wear so far, so it was definitely worth making!

Now, the question is, can I wear it in place of a skirt in Africa? Well, I'm 5 weeks into my time in Africa and I'm not really sure. Last month in Cote d'Ivoire the dress code was skirts only and I never got tired of wearing skirts. Africa is HOT, and skirts are way cooler than anything else. 

Now, I'm in Ghana, where the dress code is more relaxed (aka pants and shorts are allowed here). Last week there were a couple days where all my skirts were dirty, so the split skirt got worn.

It's fun to wear! The legs swish and swirl wonderfully as I walk and most of the time you can't even tell it's not a skirt! Also, with the width of the legs it's honestly no warmer to wear than a skirt would be. (Very important in Africa. Just in case you didn't know, it's HOT here!)

So, yes, my split skirt is comfortable to wear in Africa, for activities such as sharing the Gospel and chasing goats.

Yep, chasing goats! There are goats almost everywhere in Ghana! They just wander through the city streets. This fact makes me happy.

I rather miss my goats at home (though my family is doing an excellent job caring for them while I'm gone!), so I couldn't resist attempting to catch a goat here. I just really wanted to hold one!

The goats did not want to be held unfortunately.

.Oh, well. One of these days I will catch a goat here, just to pet it, no matter what clothes I happen to be wearing at the time!

Now, if you want to know what else I've been up to in Africa (and South America if you missed it) check out my World Race Blog!