THE Q & A SERIES

How to line a wrap skirt

Hi Emily,

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and for your contribution to furthering the art of sewing! 😊

I have some light-weight Japanese printed linen which I think would suit the wrap skirt pattern very well, however I would like a bit more coverage and have some navy voile in my stash which would go well for lining.

I would prefer it if the lining was not visible, so thought I could have a facing of the linen fabric on the wrap, so that the lining didn’t show. Your patterns are always finished neatly - any tips for attaching the lining, particularly at the hem?

Thank you,

Donna

Hi Donna,

This sounds like a great idea!

Of all skirt projects to line, the Peppermint wrap skirt is probably the simplest as you don't need to think about a zip closure.

When it comes to lining a skirt, normally you don’t attach the lining at the hem. What this means is that the outer layer (main fabric) will be able to hang properly and won't be impacted by a lining holding it back. More about that when I show you how to construct the skirt with lining below.

Cutting the wrap skirt pattern pieces

Cut lining pieces shorter than outer pieces.

Cut all pattern pieces from the main fabric as instructed in the pattern.

For the lining you will only need to cut the main skirt pieces. You don't need the waistband.

Cut the lining pieces about 2.5cm (1in) shorter than the outer pieces. This will prevent the lining dropping and being visible when the skirt is worn.

On the front lining pieces, trim off the seam allowance at the opening by cutting along the STITCH LINE (grey line on the pattern). The raw edge of the lining will be held in place by the folded edge of the outer layer so we don't need this extra fabric on the lining.

sew the darts

Start by sewing the front and back darts on the outer pieces (steps 1 and 2 of the instructions). Press the darts as instructed.

Repeat for the lining pieces. This time press the darts in the opposite direction. This means that when you join the lining to the skirt you won't end up with too much bulk as the dart bulk won't be sitting on top of each other.

Skip step 3 of the instructions (finishing the wrap edges). We'll do this after the lining and outer skirt are joined at the top so that the lining becomes enclosed inside the edge finish.

Sew the side seams

Join the front and back pieces together at the side seam.

The Peppermint Wrap skirt instructions guide you to sew this seam with a French seam, but when adding a lining you need to consider how seam finishes are going to impact the overall bulk.

It sounds like your fabric is fairly lightweight, so it's probably fine to sew both your outer and lining fabrics with French seams. If using a bulky fabric (such as a winter weight wrap skirt), I'd suggest sewing the seams with regular seams, overlocking and pressing open.

Lined garments often have unfinished seams, but finishing the seams will encourage longevity in the garment, so we like to finish seams as usual, when possible.

Join the lining pieces at the side seams in the same way. If sewing with French seams, press the lining seams in the opposite direction to the outer skirt (again, this is to minimise bulk in the seams).

Hem the skirt lining using your chosen method. To hem in the same way as the outer skirt, look to Step 16 and 17 of the instructions.

With the outer skirt and lining wrong sides together, pin the two layers together along the waist edge. Stay-stitch the lining to the outer layer with a 6mm (1/4in) seam allowance.

Flip the skirt so that the lining is facing up. Fold back the front opening raw edges as instructed in Step 3, making sure the raw edge of the lining is enclosed inside the fold on both sides.

At this point you can now continue following the instructions as usual to create and attach the waistband - Step 7 onward.

When you enclose the raw edge of the waistband on the inside (Step 13) the raw edges of lining will be tucked inside for a clean finish.

I hope this tutorial gives you the confidence to give lining the Wrap skirt a go!

Happy sewing,

Emily

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

Wrap skirt pattern can be found here.
Tips for sewing French seams - tutorial can be found here.

For more issues of the Q & A series, you can check out the archive here.

sign-up to receive the weekly q&A in your inbox

WHAT YOU’VE BEEN MAKING

Melissa wears her Everyday dress. — Peppermint Everyday dress made by @melissamatheson

Liz wears her Wide Leg pants. — Peppermint wide leg pants made by @hasbeens.and.handmade

Petra wears her Peppermint Wrap skirt. — Peppermint wrap skirt made by @pettypopcornmakes

Anna wears her Pleated dress. — Peppermint pleated dress made by @annazaubert

THE Q & A SERIES

Make a wrap skirt with more coverage

Hi Emily,

I've just had the Peppermint wrap skirt pattern printed. I’d like to extend either piece #1 or #2 to give me a bit more coverage as I run after my kiddo at the park. Any thoughts of which piece would work better for that extension?

Thanks!

Hi there,

Great to hear you will be giving the Peppermint wrap skirt a go!

Emily wearing the Wrap skirt she designed for Peppermint magazine..

My Peppermint Wrap skirt is probably one of my most worn garments. There is something about this pattern that makes it work with almost everything in my wardrobe.

What I love about this pattern - and what makes it so wearable - is that the front pieces are not cut as a pair. The underwrap (the piece of the skirt that goes under the outer piece) has more width than the one on top (the overwrap). In the illustration below I have placed one piece on top of the other so that you can see the difference between the two.

Underwrap and overwrap are different lengths.

I designed the pattern this way as I'm not a fan of wrap garments that you have to hold in place or constantly check if you're exposing more skin than you'd like. Clothes should be made to be worn and loved, and I believe that making them more comfortable to wear in our daily lives is the best way we can ensure this will happen.

In saying that, you could definitely extend the underwrap more to have more coverage if you like. The reason I suggest altering the underwrap is that this won't impact the look of the skirt. The overwrap remains unchanged and you will just have more fabric width in the piece that sits underneath.

Step 1
Take piece 2 (Front Left Side Wrap) and extend the grainline through to the top and bottom of the pattern piece. This is the Centre Front (CF) of the skirt.

Step 2
Fold along CF so you have just the side with the dart visible.

Full piece created from pattern piece 2.

Step 3
Create a full piece by tracing the right side (side with the dart) onto the other side of CF.

Step 4
The section of the pattern on the left will be the part of the pattern that extends under the overwrap. We do not need the dart in this location and by removing it (using the slash and spread method) we will retain it's shaping whilst also getting more fullness in the hem (which means more coverage) and less fabric bulk in the waist section.

Mark in a slash line from the tip of the left dart down to the hem.

Step 5
Slide a piece of pattern paper under the pattern piece.

Cut down one of the dart arms (on the side we're working on) and stop 1-2mm from the tip of the dart. Cut up from the hem along the slash line towards the tip of the dart. Stop 1-2mm from dart tip to create a small "hinge" of paper.

Slide the uncut dart arm over to meet with the cart dart arm. You will notice that this has opened up the hemline. What we're doing here is relocating the fullness from the dart to the hem - which gives us the waist shaping we need to achieve a good fit. If you would like to see more details about this technique, you can checkout this blog post. Tape / glue in place and attach to the paper underneath.

Step 6
To finalise the pattern, draw in a nice smooth curve at the waist line and hemline. Add seam allowance back onto these new lines.

Step 7
As the left side of this piece hangs free (creating the wrap) we need to straighten out the edge (as it won't be sewn to the back side seam). Draw a straight line from the top of the side seam to the bottom - on the STITCH LINE (grey line on the pattern). Add seam allowance (2cm / 3/4in) to this new line. This is now the edge of the underwrap.

This alteration will impact how the skirt attaches to the waistband. The waistband will still fit, but the notch that indicates the end of this piece will no longer be correct. Take the waist tie piece and move the notch to reflect the alteration.

Happy sewing,

Emily

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

Peppermint wrap skirt pattern can be found here.
Adding volume to a pattern. Tutorial can be found here.
How to use the cut and spread technique to draft an A-line skirt. Tutorial can be found here.
Checking curved seams (and moving notches). Tutorial can be found here.