A-line, bias skirt with lovely seams

my own three color striped skirt
A couple of weeks ago, I spied the very cute “Three Color Stripe Skirt” on the Orla Kiely website. While I was doing a little late spring cleaning last week, I discovered some tri-color, striped fabric in my stash that would be perfect. I had originally intended to make pants with it, I think. I bought it a few years ago for $1.49/yd at a huge fabric store in Fayetteville, TN. It’s great bottom fabric because it’s a fairly heavy (a bit stiff) cotton woven with a touch of something else for some slight stretch. Spandex maybe? Sometimes fabrics with spandex will sag after you’ve worn them for a few hours, but this fabric holds it shape throughout the day.

tri-color striped fabric

I like the polka-dotted waistband on the Orla Kiely skirt, so I decided to get some polka dots to coordinate with the stripes for the waistband and to cover a matching fabric belt. I couldn’t make up my mind about the polka dot fabric, so I bought two different black, cotton fabrics: some with white, random polka dots, plus some with regularly-spaced polka dotted lines.

Next I re-measured myself and drew out my design on paper. I designed my a-line skirt with four vertical seams, an invisible zipper in the back seam, and a 1½” waistband at the natural waist.

I measured out my pattern pieces on parchment paper, then began cutting fabric. It was simple to sew together.

The most labor-intense part was the fabric-covered belt buckle. I used the instructions from Threads magazine (Issue 119) to make the belt and buckle. I used 1″ belting and a 1½” metal buckle. This technique required slip-stitching the fabric around the outside edge of the belt buckle. The belt matches so well that you can hardly notice it! All my hard work is hidden. This wasn’t really the look I had been going for, so I’ll be forced to wear the belt with jeans to show it off, I guess.

fabric covered belt