A Roberto Cavalli skirt

Friends, I'm trying to get back to blogging...

Today we have a skirt I've been wanting to blog about for a really long time 'cause it's such an interesting pattern. It's a Roberto Cavalli skirt, from Patrones Magazine Extra no 16 (Grandes Creaciones). In fact it's a reissue of a pattern published a couple of years ago (have it in an older issue). That's good about Patrones, if you missed a pattern you really love you might see it reappear later!

I remember I almost fainted when I saw that skirt! I was in love with the cut and the design lines that make it so feminine and so vavavoom!

I graded it to a size 38 per my measurements, but maybe it wasn't a good idea 'cause it's very fitted and I had to enlarge it. I remember making 2 or 3 muslins before getting the fit right. At first I added to the front 'cause the skirt would cup under my tummy, but then I realized that in fact it was the back that was 'stealing' fabric from the front because it needed more room. After adding to the back it went fine, I had to narrow the front piece at the hips a little bit 'cause my silhouette is not as hourglass as the pattern. It's a pattern a bit tricky to alter because there are no side seams and because of the design lines, but it's well worth the effort. 

What it so interesting about it is that most of the pieces are trimmed with pinking shears, and then sewn wrong side on right side, using a long topstitching stitch. It's really fun to sew, but it requires a lot of precision to get the angled seams right. The pinked edges are left as is and it frays a little bit, which is the intended look.

You can see I used a fabric pretty similar to the one shown in the magazine, and my topstitching thread is the same colour as the fabric. In a future version I would use a contrasting thread for a dramatic effect. Looking at the magazine picture, I notice that their ruffle is much narrower than on my skirt, apparently they changed that on the pattern.

I read a bit of spanish and I was able to follow their directions, but I noticed a glaring mistake, if anyone is interested to make that skirt: the godet piece #6 is too long and you have to shorten it to make it match the bottom of pieces #5.

The fabric I used is a sueded cotton/lycra twill from Diane Von Furstenberg, coming from my evergrowing stash but originally from EmmaOneSock.

I'll try to say a couple of words about the techniques I used in my next post.