Today, I started to draft the pattern for a skirt designed based upon my inspirational trip to Venice, Italy. I have designed an entire line around this recent trip so, you will see that most of my current projects will contain details representative of Venice and it’s culture, architecture and rich lavish colors. The original design for the skirt (mainly the waistband) was based upon ruffle details seen mostly in Carnival costumes. Walking through Venice, you pass many a shop with decorative masks and costumes designed specifically for the annual Carnevale di Venezia.

I found a basic skirt pattern tutorial in one of my recently purchased books, How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald H. McCunn. I followed the instructions for the basic straight skirt pattern. However, my design calls for a pencil skirt and a decorative waistband, so some tweaks were made to the initial pattern draft.

After taking my measurements and adjusting my dress form (amazing bday gift!), I created the first pattern draft for the skirt panels.  The only adjustment I made to this first pattern draft, is the cut of the skirt. My design calls for a more pencil skirt look rather than a straight skirt look. So, I used a hip curve ruler to round out the fit. It looks good minus a mistake on the seam allowance on the lower back skirt panels. Not only am I impressed with this book; but I am also impressed with my ability to get this down on paper and make necessary tweaks as I go along. I transferred the pattern draft to Muslin (cheap fabric) and will attempt to stay-stich the pieces together. This will help determine where the darts will be placed and if any changes need to be made to the first pattern draft.

After pinning the garment pieces (inside out) around the dress form and locate the darts, I was thoroughly impressed with the overall look and fit of the main skirt panels. My only concerns are the length of the skirt and the dart placement. The design calls for a “right below the knee” fit. The pattern is falling mid-knee and this is before hemming. So, I decided to add another inch to the length of the pattern draft. I also want to play around with the dart placement a bit.