When I was with Hélène in Montréal she very kindly gave me some gorgeous khaki ponte leftover from a StyleArc Taylor skirt she had made. I decided that it would honour the gift by making an identical skirt.
I had seen a few of these skirts around the interwebs and loved the striped ones but always thought that I would struggle to find tops to go with stripes, so this colour was perfect. I also noted that the skirt has negative ease and is designed to hit the leg at mid calf.
I thought I had better make a practice one before I cut into that special fabric so had a good fossick in the stash and found this leftover yellow stretch cotton from Knitwit. I knew that the length would not suit me at all and shortened the skirt, although the lack of lengthen and shorten lines told me that this was a slightly unconventional thing to do.
Having put the skirt together, I needed to unpick the whole thing and take it in about 8cms all round, and it still doesn’t have negative ease. [Just a note: the skirt was made the day after we returned from our holiday and the photo taken the same day – I am looking tired because I really was!!]
I attempted to grade the pattern down in size, but finished up just pinching in the back seam and the two side darts. I really liked it being less fitted and enjoyed the new length, but decided to add a couple of centimetres back into the length for the ponte version.
I was summonsed for jury duty so decided to wear my new skirt. This photo was taken rather early in the morning and I clearly hadn’t brushed my hair!
It goes so well with my Liberty of London knit top and vintage belt with elephant buckle to match the top.
I’ve also managed to wear it with my Cuba Libre shirt, which I knotted at the front
and my Lisbon cardi hack. Shortening the skirt also had the effect of lifting the split to mid thigh, which had concerned me slightly, but because the skirt isn’t overly tight, it’s not too revealing.
This has to be one of the most versatile skirts in my wardrobe and it has the added bonus of reminding me of such a happy time with Hélène.