If you’re playing around with your basic skirt block and thinking of moving the back dart from the waist seam where it’s typically found, there aren’t that many places it can go. This is why so often we make the dart just disappear into figure-hugging princess seams! In making this pencil skirt, I moved the dart onto the centre back, halfway between the lapped zip and the kick pleat. It’s very long and the angle is sharp: not a particularly attractive feature. So why did I bother?
The answer is: this is a muslin and the first step towards something more difficult.
A couple of posts ago, I asked for your ideas on skirts and Ruth suggested I make a close-fitting pencil with a fish tail. I went straight to Pinterest to look for mermaidy images and found one particular design that appealed, which you see on the left. Unfortunately I haven’t the original source for the picture. My version will, I hope, be subtler with less fabric involved: more like what you see here in fact. But first I needed to be satisfied that the simple elements work and give a good fit.
Hm, I might need to make it longer and more narrow at the knees but that’s easy enough.
This makes a useful addition to the wardrobe and cost nothing. The zip was salvaged; the fabric a leftover (from Vogue 1247) and the lining fabric just appeared as I was trying to stuff some drawers shut!
Check this out: something weird happens when I put the skirt front down on the table. See how it refuses to lie flat? It’s like this skirt wants to turn into a wok!
I suspect this dart placement is good choice if you want to hug a fashionably big bottom.
It’s all about that bass, I’m told.
How to:
If you’re not familiar with moving darts using the slash n’ spread method, you might benefit from this crude tutorial. The process is really easy. You do need 2 large lots of paper.
Step 1. Make a copy of the skirt back. Extend the waist dart so the dart point is at the base of your bottom.
Step 2. Draw a line from the dart point to the centre back seam. Cut along the new line, then cut along one of the original dart legs.
Step 3. Close the waist dart. The new dart will open. To complete the pattern, pin in this position onto another paper layer. Draw around. Remove original. On the new layer, fold the dart closed and pin in this position (I like to pin darts down). Draw seam and hem allowances all around and cut out pattern. Unpin dart.