In the Folds Wrap Skirt, Times Two

Without any preamble: I made the free/pay-what-you-want, creatively named Wrap Skirt designed by In the Folds for Peppermint Magazine. I made one in the fabric leftover from the Jones Trousers and another in a cartoony eye-print canvas. I had to ignore the most of the instructions. You're instructed to finish the raw edges with French seams, which I elected not to do in favor of serging. Both fabrics are too bulky for French seams. Both skirts have side-seam pockets and the yellow skirt has a lining, and both elements conflict with the order of assembly. So until the last two or so steps (the waistband and the hem) I only consulted the instructions to confirm the seam allowances.

Both are a straight size C with the hem shortened to a mini length, about 17" from the top of the waistband to the hem. The yellow skirt is a smidge too small. The back piece is narrow, pulling the side seams backwards. It feels unnatural when I want to stick my hands in the pockets. My simplest current solution is to just rotate the whole thing so that the right side is more forward, and I don't use the left pocket which then hangs too far back. Also, I would have made the front wrap wider in retrospect. For the floral print skirt, I widened the back piece 1" at the center, which helps.

Rather than doing that, I might recommend sizing up in the first place. I picked size C based on my waist measurement, noticing that the finished garment dimensions include no ease compared to the body measurements. I thought that was because a wrap-style garment has no fixed waist measurement. It can always be tightened or loosened at any time. Even so, I should have figured that every size still has a maximum waist measurement, and I guess what's listed on the size chart is just that. I should have erred on the side of potentially-too-big.

This fabric is a 25% polyester/75% cotton canvas. I hated handling it. It's a coarsely-woven, fray-prone upholstery weight, and not ideal for apparel. It's got that rough, cheap throw pillow feel that you probably wouldn't want next to your skin. It's a good thing that I lined it with a softer, finer cotton lawn. At first, I didn't even add the lining for comfort, I just wanted it to hide the canvas's sheerness. Because , despite being on the heavy side, it's sheer enough that the fabric's bold print shows through itself, and would show through the overlapping front if left unlined. Mission accomplished, if you can't detect it on the finished skirt.

I had some leftover fabric so I made a bag that can fit more than just the bare minimum (keys, wallet, phone, knife) because somehow I don't own one of those that isn't a full size backpack. It's a trendy crescent-shaped crossbody bag like the ever-popular Bestie Bag from BF Patterns or the Crosstown Crescent Bag by Gracomakes. I drafted my own pattern to emulate them and I think I got pretty close? But self-drafted or not, I prefer a bag with more structure. This one's too slouchy to be ideal. But on the other hand, she's spacious enough and she'll do. I tried and was successful at not purchasing any additional materials, and the cutting and sewing only took one day, so I won't be too self-critical here.

Stuffed full.

Mostly empty.

I'm strangely drawn to silly eye prints and imagery. I have my ringer tee from a while back and a pair of laser-cut acrylic earrings shaped like eyes, and I'm trying not to be redundant now that I can put together a whole ocular-themed outfit if I wanted to. And I won't, because even I have a limit on how extremely intentional I want my style to be. All four together would just be too on-the-nose... on-the-eyes...? I can't make a wordplay out of that. Damn.

Summary/Notes:

• Size C, no fit adjustments
  
• 17" total length
• Lined
• Side-seam pockets

And this is made from the same cotton canvas that I used for my Jones Trousers. I had just enough left to eke out this skirt. The zero waste cutting left me with a plain ol' workable rectangular cut of fabric, so I didn't have to play extreme scrap Tetris like I normally would. I did have to cut the waistband into four parts of irregular lengths, all stitched together, but the extra seams aren't detectable. (I've circled them below to demonstrate how hidden by the print they are). This skirt is not lined and was comparatively quick to make, maybe 10 hours (which IS fast for me, shut up) since I already had the construction down pat from the previous skirt.

Summary/Notes:

• Size C, widened back piece 1"
• 17" total length
• Side-seam pockets

 

If there's one thing I want to change for next time, it's to find a better way to finish the side slit that the waist tie gets fed through. The buttonhole feels weak even with a square of interfacing reinforcing the area. Adding weight via pockets compounds stress as well, I realize. Maybe a welt-type opening with a facing would be stronger? Or I could split the waistband in two at that exact place and use the new seam as as a slit. It's clean, but I'm not sure it would be stronger. Eh. I don't plan on making more of this pattern any time soon, but it's worth thinking about considering I recently went from zero wrap-closure garments to three, and the trend may continue. Suddenly I've decided that all my clothes must be similarly adjustable. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.