I'm Wearing Skirts! And Liking it! Style Arc Bobbie Bask

Sometimes even a die-hard pants person has to admit that skirts can be...well....kind of fabulous.   Especially on a hot summer day.   And cooler weather too, worn with boots.   And as I sew more, and age more, and become a bit more body and fashion conscious, I'm finding that skirts are starting to have more of an appeal.

One of my all-time favorite articles of clothing just happens to be a skirt, in fact.  This one:

This is a cotton batik that is SO soft, and SO comfy to wear.
It's missing a button, and has a few small stains, but it's true love,
and imperfections can be glossed over, right?

I don't really wear it all that often any more, but it once was my go-to travel skirt, beach skirt, knock-around-the-yard skirt, so it has stayed in my closet for a very long time.   Last year I bought Style Arc's Bobbie Bask skirt pattern:

because it reminded me of this beloved skirt, and finally...finally!...I made it up.

Seeing it on the hanger gives an idea of the drape and construction,
which definitely looks different on the body.

And now I want more!

It's a bit shorter than I usually like (short leg syndrome = needs longer skirts, + aging legs syndrome = vanity, + knees that have never ever been an attractive feature on me = more vanity), but I thought it might make a good biking skirt:

And it does!  Here I am with Matilda Joplin, a bit windblown after a jaunt to the pet food store :)
The knit actually clings to the knees in the wind, and it's a good length,
not long enough to get caught up in anything.  
Success!

Not only that, if I ever DO want to dress it up with heels (not likely, but still....), I can:

I know, the shoes are not the best choice,
but it's what I have.
Truth be told, this is playing dress-up games for me.
It was fun for the 10 minutes it took to put this look together & snap a few pics ;-D

Close up of the bask.
The pattern suggests that you can take a few hand stitches
to hold the folds where you want.

Side view showing the gathered seam

I would have made the skirt longer, but I used every cm of length I could squeeze out of what fabric I had left.  And now I'm fine with the length, since I discovered it's so good for biking!  I left it unhemmed, again, to keep every mm of length, but I may hem it now.  Because I have this "thing" about unfinished edges, and it'll drive me batty sooner or later.

Pattern and Construction Notes:

• This is not quite a circle skirt, and made up in a drapey knit it has wonderful movement and a lovely soft fall.   The gathered midriff hugs the body, but in a much more flattering way than a single layer of knit.   Well, flattering to those of us who no longer have youthful, fit and firm tummies.....
• As is the case with most Style Arc patterns, instructions are minimal.   Even the pattern pieces gave me a pause - instead of saying "cut 2", they say "1 Pair", and my feeble brain needed to take a good look at all of the pieces to make sure "cut 2" was what was meant.  The basic information is all there in the instructions, (thank the sewing goddesses for drawings - I would truly be lost without them!) and it's a fairly simple pattern, so you can figure out the details even if the instructions don't quite make sense.
• There is an inside and outside "bask" (the gathered midriff section).   The outer one is gathered at the side seams, then you match the seams to the seams on the inner bask.   I gathered the seams by sewing a long stitch, pulled and gathered the stitches to length, and tied the ends to hold the gathers in place.  Next time I'll do the classic 2 rows of stitching, and backstitch at one end so that I don't have any slippage while I'm gathering, then pull the threads to create the gathering.   Then stitch down the center to secure it, using a smaller stitch.
• There is elastic at the waist - you sew this on to the inner bask, at the waistline seam.  I meant to take a picture of this, but I conveniently forgot; it's not my proudest moment in the neat sewing category....  In my defense, I made a teeny tiny seam here (trying to eek every mm of length from the fabric), & trying to keep that seam folded under the elastic was not an easy task!  
• The only tricky part of the skirt (for me, anyway) (well, other than the aforementioned elastic...), is matching the seams of the outside and inside bask pieces and sewing them together along the gathered seam.  I think that if I do my gathers as mentioned above, and WAIT to pull out the 2 rows of gathering stitches until after I've sewed up this seam, it will be easier, and have a neater finish.

Slow Sewing Required Here

This pattern really has a lot going for it - there is virtually no fitting required; just start with the right size & it pretty much stretches to fit.  It's fairly quick & easy to sew up, & even forgives some sloppy mistakes because of all the gathering.  There is a lot of hemming - I guess I have to admit to myself that I am now a confirmed Lover of Knit Sewing, so one of these days I'll justify a coverstitch machine....maybe.   And a felting machine.  And a straight stitch industrial.......

Maybe.

Did you ever convert from skirts to pants or vice versa?  Are you an equally bi-pantskirt wearer?  What do you love or hate about either one?

For me, it's really all about comfort.  I cannot imagine that I would ever be comfy in a tight pencil skirt, nor would I want to go anywhere in a big poofy conflagration that would brush both sides of any doorway I passed through.   Just let me breathe deeply, and walk freely.  What's different for me now that I've started sewing again is that I want to feel that I look my best while doing it :)