Borrowing a Skirt: Vogue 2530
This is the skirt which harmonizes so well with the Capelet Tank that i featured last Monday. I made it from a 2001 pattern offers both a straight skirt and a half-circle skirt, and I have taken to borrowing the latter whenever I want a flared skirt. I then use a waistband taken from another pattern. I substituted the buttons down the back in favor of zipper. (Buttons there are truly a terrible idea for a dress closure as you must both lean on them and sit on them when in a chair--ouch). I have made this skirt with and without the hem flounce for spring and summer skirts. And I have noticed how fabrics with different levels of drape create a wider or more slender silhouettes
The most slender is this rayon crepe in a print that is really large. Such a print would overwhelm my frame unless pared down to a skirt, and I made it ankle length so I didn’t have to cut up the flower motifs any more than was necessary. Placing such large motifs is always tricky. (Question for fabric designers: Why not shrink all these over-sized prints and make everyone’s dressmaking easier?). I got rid of the center back and front seams, and placed one large, complete flower on the right hip.
I underlined the rayon print with a Bemberg rayon lining and came to regret that choice. Although both were rayon, the crepe was far heavier than the underlining and they each stretched a different amount as they hung waiting to be hemmed. So they were level at the seamlines and then off by inches at various points around bottom edge, so the hemming was tricky. Even in the photo it looks uneven though it looks fine when worn. Next time I will make a separate lining.
BTW, I have also made the halter dress, although that was years ago now. And learned from that to muslin halter tops as shoulder length and squareness of shoulders affects the fit as much as mere bust size.
This pattern is out of print, but half-circle skirts appear in many patterns, or you could also simply draft a half circle.
