A Walking Skirt for Molly

Last year my friend, Molly, gifted me with some lovely batik fabrics that her mother had brought back from Indonesia decades ago. She also asked me if I could possibly make her a walking skirt out of one of the pieces that was her favorite. I said "Sure!," and then dragged the project out for an unconscionable time because I was too nervous about cutting into this beautiful and beloved fabric.

Great colors. Just lovely.

Increasing my fears, the fabric was just 2 yards long and maybe 36 inches wide. No fudge room at all if I messed something up. Cue shallow, panicked breathing.

I used my favorite skirt pattern, BurdaStyle skirt #119 from the October, 2011 issue.

BS 10-2011-119

I just love this skirt. The fit is slim but comfortable, the waistband has a nice curve and the pockets are all that and a bag of chips. It's available for download on the BurdaStyle site, if you're tempted.

This time I cut the front on the fold and swapped the pockets out for inseam pockets, so as to minimize breakup of those fabulous jungle flowers. And moved the zip to the back, so I didn't have to mess with pockets and zip in the same seam. I also lengthened, because Molly likes her skirts on the longer side.

Molly's shape is pretty different from mine. She is more of a classic hourglass, whereas I am a straight up brick. I traced a new version of the pattern sized for her and made up a muslin out of an old sheet so she could see if this style would work. She gave it the thumbs up, and then it sat. For months. Eventually The Man pointed out that the fabric wasn't doing Molly any good sitting folded up in my fabric closet, so I took a deep breath and got to work with the fabric scissors.

And here are the results! I didn't have enough fabric to fiddle with pattern placement, so it's sheer luck that none of those flowers ended up in the wrong spot (if you know what I mean).

Front view

Side view

And another front view

It's been too rainy here on the Central Coast for Molly to give the skirt a real road test, but she thinks it will meet her needs.

I have fabric lined up for two more of these skirts for myself. They really are very easy to wear, and those pockets are the bomb.

My original pattern review is on PatternReview.com here.