Two Tiered Red Maxi Skirt w/ Gathered Waistband and Drawcord

Today’s post is about a lovely two tiered red maxi circle skirt with a gathered waist, elastic waistband and drawcord designed, self drafted and made by yours truly. If reading about sewing isn’t your jam - no shame, it’s cool - you can scroll down to the View section.

Design

From the beginning of this concept, I knew I wanted a red maxi skirt. One that call for all the attention. I wanted it to look lush and luxurious while also fitting into my casual style aesthetic.

two-tiered-red-maxi-skirt-gathered-waistband-drawcord

The shape of the skirt was inspired by Christian Dior’s New Look of 1947 which featured a cinched waist and a full A-line skirt. One of my design goals for this year is to make a bar coat of my own design, also inspired by Dior, so I figured making a skirt with volume would only be right as I continued to better my craft.

One detail I have that I know Dior didn’t is pockets. Having pockets was a non-negotiable for this style. That, along with the elasticized waistband and drawcord are what casualize the skirt.

Originally, the fabric for this skirt design was going to be silk for the luster (shininess) of the fabric and it’s fluid drape (how it hangs) but two things hindered that. 1) I’d need to add more structure to the skirt in order to give it that flared bottom which defeats the purpose of using silk in the first place and 2) silk turned out to be way too expensive after all yardage calculations.

If you want to see what else inspired this design, you can watch me drawing it in this video and putting together its inspiration board.

Materials

None of the following links are affiliate links. I will not receive any compensation from you purchasing the following materials.

Red peachskin from Fabric.com
Fusible interfacing
2” elastic

Tools

Buttonhole presser foot
Safety pins
Circle Skirt Calculator (the one I used) (one available by MOOD that I would’ve used)
Sewing machine
Overlock machine
Brown pattern paper

Pattern Making

This style is essentially a hack of your basic 360 degree circle skirt. All I did was add extra length to the waistband to give me that scrunched look with the elastic waistband and increased the waist for the gathers and to add fullness into the skirt. I also added hidden inseam pockets.

There is no rhyme or reason as to how I ended up with the waist measurements that I did and the waistband length that I did. Well, actually, that’s a partial lie. For the waistband, no, there is no reason. My waist measured 39” and my soul settled at 48”. As the waist on the skirt, I was originally going to double my waist circumference but that complicated the fabric yardage needed for the style. The skirt would have been too long to fit on a 55” width fabric and would have required a lot more yardage. I took the waist down as far as I could where I could cut the skirt back and front pieces as one without having to add any panels or seams on the bias.

Cutting

Cutting this bad boy out would have been a little annoying at home with the lack of space and all. I needed room to lay out these giant pieces and spread out the fabric. I ended up staying at my job after hours in order to use its cutting tables. My back was grateful.

It also made me miss having a functional design studio with furniture meant for the purpose of designing and manufacturing. I’m grateful for my dining table, but this ain’t it.

Sewing

Sewing the two tiered maxi was rather easy. I did have a design detail that included a smaller pocket at the waistband, but I forgot about it while attaching the waistband so that was that on that. I also wanted to incorporate a double top stitch along the side seams of the skirt, but that didn’t pan out too well either. I think if I would have had a different needle, a tighter presser foot and followed the direction of the fabric drape, it might have come out better.

Beyond that, over locking was the most time consuming, and the baby hem, because of the circumference of the skirt.

Critique

I was really excited about making this skirt. At the moment of making this, my closet lacked skirt and dress options so this design was a missing link. It’s also very red and has pockets.

When I finished it though, I wasn’t too happy with it. I tried it on and felt that the excess in fabric didn’t compliment my body shape well. My body is pretty block-ish/rectangular and I don’t have much of a defined waist. After trying the skirt on, I felt it made the problem worse because it didn’t have that a-line outward volume, so I was extra blocky. A long block.

I let the skirt sit for a couple weeks and pulled it out for my photo shoot, paired it with a simple black jersey cami and I loved it. It gave me everything I expected. A casual luxury dripped in red. It instantly made me want to up my jewelry game.

I will definitely wear it out and about when the world opens up safely and I look forward to wearing it while traveling for doing-the-most vibes. I’ve worn it out once to a family member's house. We had no plans, I just wanted to feel fancy in a pandemic. I’m still working on the outfits that I can confidently wear it with.

Evaluation

Skill wise, there wasn’t anything too difficult about this skirt. One thing it did point out was my lack of confidence in button holes. I mean, I already knew about it, but it’s something I can improve upon. Putting in parallel button holes that are the same width is pretty necessary for coats and blazers with multiple buttons.

View

If you want to see everything that went into making this two tiered maxi circle skirt with a gathered waist, elastic waistband and drawcord, you can watch this video right here.