Chevron Knit Skirt

I am so grateful to the blogger who left a comment on one of my posts about the amazing knits at GirlCharlee.com. I’ve never seen a better selection of modern knits for the grown women like me as well as cute stuff for girls. Trendy stuff indeed.  I purchased several varieties and can’t wait to use them all up. Soon, very soon. Here’s my first project with this black/white knit.

Just start with  any a-line elastic waist skirt pattern meant to be cut on the bias, like Simplicity 2186. I used a pattern older than mud from my stash—Butterick 5431. I guess technically it doesn't have to be a pattern specifically for bias cuts, but it helps because the 45 degree angle is already marked on the pattern piece.

Most bias-cut skirt patterns give you the full piece for the front and a full piece for the back. (You can’t cut on the fold when cutting anything on the bias.) However, to make the chevron design in the front you will need to cut the pattern piece down the middle. Luckily, my pattern had an easy line down the center on which I cut. Then you need to cut out 4 identical pieces of your skirt on a perfect 45 degree angle. And I do mean identical. Everything has to match—all the stripes.

To make this easier I cut out my first piece with the tissue pattern, then flipped that cut piece facedown  to make a mirror image on the fabric, matching up the stripes again, as seen below. You might need to subtly manipulate (lightly stretch) the fabric to get it match up perfectly. Pin like crazy where you’ll be seaming the front sections. Cut out. Repeat this process for the back.

If you have a walking foot, now is the time to use it so that your perfectly matched and perfectly pinned stripes will sew perfectly.

I used a straight stitch, then went over that line on my serger. After you make your front and back sections, sew the sides, matching the stripes again, insert an elastic waistband and hem the skirt. I found this great tutorial on hemming knits. You use steam-a-seam to iron the hem in place and then sew the seam. What I love about this is that it gives a little bit of structure to the knit so that you don’t have any popped seams. I have no idea why sometimes knits will ‘skip’ a stitch when sewing. But the steam-a-seam helped to stabilize the seam. Sold on that technique.

Voila! 30 minutes of sewing, 30 minutes of cutting, and you have a trendy chevron skirt for $10. I really don’t know how girlcharlee.com can sell this knit for only $5/yd. Amazing. I am so happy to have been led to that website.