My Favorite Skirt Pattern

Merry Christmas! I have had a great week of celebrating Jesus' birth with my family. My brother has been home, we put up and decorated our Christmas tree, we went to the Christmas Eve candlelit service, and just enjoyed hanging out and being a family. Meanwhile, I was also franticly sewing trying to get gifts finished. (They were all finished, wrapped, and under the tree by 2 am Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.)
Between finishing the gifts that had to be done for last Saturday and starting the gifts for Christmas at home, I whipped up a Christmas Skirt for myself.

This is the third skirt of this style that I've made myself. Last winter I made this one from brown taffeta.

It has gotten a lot of wear! I only had one regret from it, I forgot to add pockets. A few months later I made one from dark purple linen. This time I was smart and added pockets. Thus, the purple skirt has gotten even more wear than the brown one. I even took it along and wore it several times in Guatemala.

Well, several months ago I found this gorgeous red cotton damask at Wal-Mart. I immediately had a plan for it so bought all they had, which was sadly only 2 yards. I checked the other 2 Wal-Marts in town, hoping they would have more. Nope. No such luck. 2 yards was not near enough for the project I had in mind.

So, in the back of my mind I planned to turn the fabric into a Christmas skirt for myself, and there is no better skirt to make than this pretty, comfortable, button front, zipper-less, maxi skirt. Here's the funny thing, this is the third time I've made this skirt and I still don't actually have a pattern for it. Every time I start with this pattern, Simplicity 1500.

I lengthen the skirt, eliminate the center front seam, narrow the skirt slightly at the bottom so it doesn't take up too much fabric, then widen the front panel about 8 inches at the top, so that the skirt will fit over my hips easily. I do the same with the front waistband. The width of the back panel stays the same, it just gets lengthened to match the front.

 This sounds like a lot of work, but I have it all figured out now, so really it's not. Somehow every time I don't think to take pictures, or trace out the finished cut out pieces so that I have a pattern for next time.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Due to a slight fabric shortage, for this red skirt I had to add an panel (cut off-grain) down the center front to get enough width.

Thankfully, due to the placement of the front pleat, it's not *too* noticeable.

This skirt closes like my black one does, the waistband folds over itself and buttons into place. This makes the pleat down the front of the skirt.

While I was making this skirt I got a little worried, it was bright red, what would I be able to wear it with?? An awful lot surprisingly! Over the past week I've worn it 4 different times for Christmas festivities, each time with a different shirt. This skirt was definitely worth making!

Merry Christmas! Have a blessed new year!