One Seam Skirt Explained

After last week's post on the 1950's one seam skirt pattern, I received several comments and emails from readers all intrigued to know how such a skirt is put together. So I've written a post about it. with photos of the pattern pieces and a few crazy reconstructions. Interested? Then read on! 

The pattern is this one - Simplicity 3983 from 1952 - which I bought immediately after seeing Kerry's first version a couple of years ago (she's made a couple more since then too!) The pattern has one main skirt piece which is cut on the fold. The other pattern pieces are a waistband and two-piece hip pockets.  The skirt has no side seams, so hip/bum shaping is given by the two darts on either side of the centre back seam.

For the purposes of this step-by-step, I've made up a teeny, tiny skirt to demonstrate how the pieces go together. I haven't scaled down the pieces perfectly, but it will give you a good idea of how the skirt is constructed. The elf-sized skirt is made up without a waistband (I couldn't be bothered to add one if you must know) but the original skirt does have one.

Main pattern pieces: skirt front/back, pocket and pocket yoke

Skirt piece opened out

First the back darts are sewn.

Darts from right side

The pockets are then stitched to the front curved edges, curves clipped and a snip made into the corner.

This is to allow the curves to turn under neatly to the inside of the skirt like this:

The pocket yoke is then sewn to the skirt and pocket.

On the original pattern, the pocket piece is longer and should be folded up and attached to the yoke like this:

Here's what the skirt now looks like from the front.

With a close up of the hip pocket.

The pucker on the pocket edge is only there because the pattern pieces aren't perfectly drafted. And because I made the entire tiny skirt in about 15 minutes…

Now we get to sew that famous one seam! Please note that in the pattern there would also be a zip attached at the top of this seam after the notch. For this post, I've just sewn the seam all the way to the top.

There's the ONE seam, on the right hand side!

In the normal course of events, you'd now add a waistband but for the purposes of this demonstration, we're done!  Here's the skirt from the back. The proportions are a bit out, so the pockets shouldn't come quite so far round the back of the skirt.

And one from the front…

And one with a spool of thread included as a size reference, just to show you how twitchy the skirt is!

I do love this pattern, it's so well constructed and easy to sew. The pockets are a bit fiddly, but for me, they were the detail that drew me to the skirt in the first place, so they're well worth the effort. I hope that's explained things a bit clearer, and please do shout if you have any other questions.

Have a great day! x

Barkcloth skirt

Behold my barkcloth skirt! I wanted to make a relatively simple garment to show off the lovely retro fabric design as much as possible, so decided on a vintage pattern from the 1950's. The pattern is Simplicity 3983 which has just the one seam going up the back, so no worrying about pattern matching side seams. As you can see, I didn't make much of an effort to match the shaped pockets and front waistband either. I don't care though, it looks fine!

Having already made this skirt once before, I only made one pattern change, which was to shorten the length by an inch (I'd already taken a gigantic eight inches off the original pattern). I also made a few changes to the construction. I replaced the centred zip with an invisible one and added a faced waistband instead of a Petersham ribbon facing, which is how I finished the waistband on my first version. I also positioned the zip so that it runs through the waistband (like you find on the Delphine and Ginger skirt patterns). I know some people like a waistband starting above the zip, but I personally prefer them integrated. It's not authentically vintage but I like how it looks.

I added a white silk-cotton lining using this method, and used some scraps of cotton lawn for the pockets.

The barkcloth fabric is Ripple in Navy from The Village Haberdashery, part of the Time Warp collection by Jessica Jones. Here's what I would advise if you're thinking of working with barkcloth:

- The feel of barkcloth is quite rough against the skin, so if you're planning on using it for garment making, I'd advise underlining with a very light fabric or adding a separate lining.

- Barkcloth has quite a loose weave and is liable to stretch slightly when cut on the bias. This happened with my curved front pocket facings, but it actually turned out in my favour as they now allow a bit more room to get my hands in!  Just be careful to staystitch any curved edges and try not to over stretch when pressing.

- The fabric frays and unravels quite noticeably, so I ended up overlocking all raw edges quite early on in the proceedings.

Apart from that it didn't behave any differently from a linen or cotton. I used a regular needle in my machine and it sewed together beautifully. Even though I knew the fabric was brand spanking new, I still felt like I was working with a piece of 1950's barkcloth, it just looks vintage!

I'm delighted with the finished skirt - it's contemporary but the fabric gives it a vintage edge, which is my favourite combination! I've paired it with a jumper for these pictures because it's still cold and I'm a wuss, but I can totally see it working with this, this, this and even this!!

And because I used a vintage pattern, I'm counting this as my first contribution to this year's Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge. I only pledged to sew up one pattern, but it's not this one, so consider this a bit of a Brucie Bonus!  x

Fabric was given to me free of charge for review. All views my own.

Polka dot one seam skirt

I made this neat little skirt to fill a gap in my wardrobe - I needed a red skirt suitable for everyday wear. Yes, I know, I already have a red skirt, but it just feels a bit too dressy to wear during the day. This time round, I wanted something comfortable that would match lots of my handmade tops and look good with a cardigan. Enter Simplicity 3983 from 1952, otherwise known as the one seam skirt.

I first saw a version of the skirt on Kestrel Finds and Makes blog and had tracked down and bought the pattern before I'd even finished reading the blog post (please tell me I'm not the only one who does this…) 

I loved the simple shape, the pockets and how good it looked in cord. With this in mind, I splashed out on a metre of red polka dot cord from Dragonfly Fabrics. The polka dots are actually quite subtle, which means I can wear it with patterned tops without fear of an almighty clash.  In fact, it seems to go with absolutely everything. 

Who says gingham and polka dots don't belong together?!

One metre was plenty, especially as I shortened it by eight inches (!) and gave it a generous two inch hem. I added 1.5 inches to the waistband (the pattern is for a 28" waist) and didn't change the skirt section at all as there was already quite a lot of ease built in.  One of the benefits of copying being inspired by other people's makes is that you can pick up all their tips and apply them to yours. As well as the dramatic shortening, I also used a lighter weight fabric for the inside pockets (a neutral coloured quilting cotton from Misformake) as advised by Kerry, and made them deeper. 

I'm glad I did as they're still pretty small and I've got child-sized hands. I love the pockets, though there's something about them that makes me want to stick my thumbs out of them, Fonzy-style... 

I also added Petersham ribbon to the inside waistband as the pattern advises. 

I loved the process of making this skirt. Usually I'm in a mad rush to finish and there's inevitably a bit of swearing occurring along the way. This time, I just took it slowly and nothing seemed to phase me. Nothing. The skirt didn't feel great when worn with tights so I simply cut out and added a lining, no sweat. The zip didn't look completely perfect - no problem, I just carefully unpicked the whole thing and re-inserted it with more precision!!! I really don't know what came over me! Whatever it was though, I'm grateful, as this little skirt will be worn a lot, so I'm glad I took the trouble to make it as perfect as I could.

I leave you with a photo which just cracks me up. It's me posing with what I call my Beignet face. Just look at this post and you'll see what I mean. I really do try my best to pose naturally without smiling, but I just can't do it. The majority of the time, I look like I'm spoiling for a fight! Which is why 99% of my photos show me grinning like a loon - far less scary!  x