KS 3341 Golf Skirt/Skort: from Good Idea to Hot Mess and Back Again

I have finished Kwik Sew 3341, my bright orange knit golf skirt.  

\

The making of this skirt was a journey which began with the hopes of using up some less-than-loved orange jersey knit.  This skirt has knit shorts underneath and an overskirt.  I lengthened the skirt by 2" so it is more appropriate for the golf course.  I made the side pockets as well.  The pattern does NOT suggest knits as a  fabric choice for the overskirt.  I used it anyways.  

The skirt was coming along very well until I attached the waistband.  I had basted the shorts and skirt together as instructed, stretching the shorts to fit the skirt.  I eventually got the waistband on properly...between the skirt, shorts, and waistband (a stretchy trifecta if you will) there was a lot of stretching going on and my initial attempt was rather sloppy.  Keep Calm and Grab the Seam Ripper!! 

source

I then serged all of those raw edges together to try to keep things neat.  So then after attaching the ends of the elastic to the interfaced (non-stretchy) front waistband...the instructions tell you to tuck the elastic under the seam allowance, then fold over and stitch in the ditch.  This excellent review on patternreview.com, alerted me to be careful here so I followed her advice and stitched the elastic to the seam allowance prior to folding it over.  This is where the "Hot Mess" happened.  There was too much stretchiness, too much bulk (due to the serged seam allowances perhaps??), too much mess.  A disaster.  Again, I grabbed the seam ripper and freed my elastic.

What to do?  What to do?  Well in a normal knit skirt, you'd make a casing at the waistband and then thread your elastic through it.  So that is what I did.  I left the interfaced front waistband open and folded over the back waistband and hand basted it down.  Then I top-stitched it to form my casing.  I switched my elastic to a more narrow 3/4" wide and sewed it down at the edge of the interfaced front waistband and threaded it through the casing.  Then I was able to try on the skirt and adjust the elastic to fit me.  It always makes me nervous when you are instructed to cut a particular length of elastic and sew it in before being able to try it on.  It seems like a recipe for problems (and for grabbing the seam ripper!).

Without further ado...here it is:

There's a little bit of extra pouf/volume/fabric at the waist right by the pockets.  You can see it well just below my right hand.  I'm not positive why this is here but there could be multiple reasons.  It could be because there is interfacing along the pocket edge which is creating extra stiffness and puffiness.  Serging the seam allowances could have added additional stiffness or it could be that there is simply too much fabric there.  I may slide the fabric more toward the back and then stitch through the waistband and elastic to keep the extra fabric toward the back.  Another option would be to make the skirt in a size smaller at the waistline (only if using a knit) to eliminate some of the extra fabric.  

Here is a view of the pocket.  The edge of the pocket is interfaced to make a nice crisp edge. 

Let's Review:

Pattern Description:  A skirt with knit shorts underneath with side pockets and elastic back waistband.  

Pattern Sizing:  XS-XL.  I made a Large and the sizing was accurate

Did it look like the pattern envelope?  Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow?  Follow?  Yes.  Implement?  Not so much when dealing with inserting the elastic at the waistband (see below).  

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?  I have a great golf skirt with attached shorts underneath.  This pattern was perfect to try to replicate it.  

Fabric Used:  I used a cotton-poly knit for BOTH the shorts and skirt.  The pattern does NOT suggest using a knit for the skirt, but I had a lot of orange knit that I wanted to use up, so I decided to give it a try.  For the most part it worked well, but since there were 3 stretchy layers (shorts, skirt and waistband) coming together at the waistband instead of 1 stretchy layer (shorts)  I needed to address the waistband differently to help deal with all of the stretchiness.   

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

• I made the skirt 2" longer so it would be about 18.5" finished length.
• I folded and hand basted the back waistband down to create a casing.  Then top-stitched it down.
• I threaded elastic through the casing and tried it on before stitching the ends to the front waistband.  
• Folded over the front waistband and top-stitched down.
• I also used a twin needle for the hemming of the shorts and skirt.  

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  Yes and yes I would!

Conclusion:  This is a nice pattern that can be sporty or more dressy depending on the fabric.  I love having the shorts underneath.  While it wasn't recommended to use a knit fabric for the skirt, it wasn't disastrous either.  Considering that at one point I used the phrase "hot mess" to describe this skirt, I'd say this turned out to be a save and maybe even a win!