Heather (161cm tall) took about 9cm from the length for her Mornington skirt
THE Q & A SERIES
How to shorten the Mornington skirt
Hi there, does the Mornington skirt pattern have markings for shortening to fit a 5’ 1”height?
Thanks, Marly
Hi Marly,
Due to the long length of the Mornington skirt we’ve had a few questions about this. We placed two LENGTHEN / SHORTEN LINES on the pattern so that you can remove (or add) length to the pattern without impacting the design.
If you are just removing a couple of centimetres, you'll be okay just to remove it from one area - from the middle panels or the lower panels. Any more and I suggest you remove half from the middle panels and half from the lower panels.
To determine how much length you would like to remove, use the finished garment length from the pattern and hold a tape from your waist to this point.
You can use the same process for adding length.
1. On the FRONT MIDDLE PANEL [9], draw a line parallel to the LENGTHEN / SHORTEN LINE, the amount you would like to remove from the length. For example, if removing 5cm (2in) length, mark the line 5cm (2in) above the LENGTHEN / SHORTEN LINE.
2. Cut through the LENGTHEN / SHORTEN LINE.
3. Slide the lower section of the pattern up to meet the line marked in STEP 1. Line up the grainline to correctly position it.
4. Tape or glue some paper on the side seams. Draw new side seam STITCH LINES, starting at the original line at the top and finishing on the original at the bottom. On one side the line is straight, while on the other it's slightly curved.
5. Add seam allowance onto the new STITCH LINES.
6. Move the notches over to the new CUT LINE. You will notice on the side with two notches that the lower notch is very close to the bottom after the alteration. Due to this, I decided to move it up to make it more useful and then will transfer the new position onto the back after altering the back.
7. Repeat process on the BACK MIDDLE PANEL [10], removing the same amount of length as what was removed from the front panel.
8. Place the corresponding seams together - STITCH LINE on STITCH LINE to transfer the notches from the front to the back. Use a tracing wheel to do this.
Repeat the process on the lower panels. You will also need to remove length from the hem facing pieces, as centre back seam has a facing and this will be impacted by length removed.
Happy sewing,
Emily
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE
The Mornington skirt is available this month in our Curated by In the Folds Membership.
For more issues of the Q & A series, you can check out the archive here.
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