Aly's Corduroy Reed Skirt

The instant I saw we were carrying the Reed Skirt pattern I immediately envisioned making it out of a bottom weighted corduroy for winter! I choose the Robert Kaufman Corduroy 14 Wale in the color Merlot. I knew this would be a piece I could accessorize to many different holiday gatherings, yet would remain a staple piece for my cold weather wardrobe. I was also really thrilled to see that this pattern offers inclusive sizing so that a variety of shapes and sizes can enjoy this pattern. While view A for this pattern is hot and trending in fashion right now, I decided to go against the flow and make view D!

Pattern: Reed Skirt by Grainline Studio (View D) Size 6
Materials: Robert Kaufman Corduroy 14 Wale in Merlot
Modifications: Front Slit Opening

 I started my journey on this pattern by going onto Grainline Studio’s website and reading up on their sew-along for the Reed Skirt. Their style inspiration section really got me thinking about how I wanted my skirt to look. I was particularly inspired when I saw a skirt on their inspiration board that looked like view D, had white top stitching in specific highlighted areas, and a slit in the front. This became my own inspiration for how I wanted my skirt to look.

This pattern offers your choice for how to finish the seams, so as a first step of construction, I decided to use my serger to finish all the edges. I’ve truly come to favor overlock stitching the edges of pattern pieces as soon as possible after cutting them. It can offer an added ease and precision in construction as your pattern pieces have less tendency to shift and fray while working with them. I also wanted to make sure I could machine wash my skirt and didn’t want the edges to overly fray.

The Robert Kaufman Corduroy was moderately easy to work with, however it is a thick fabric so I made sure I was using a brand new Jeans/Denim needle on my machine as well as very sharp scissors. The amount of top stitching this pattern calls for seems like a lot to do, however it really ended up making later construction steps that much easier when all the seams were already stitched down. I also cut a few pattern pieces upside down which beautifully showcases the two different sheens of the corduroy. 

Front slit modification:

While view D does not offer a front skirt opening as part of their instructions, I knew it would take very minimal modification to achieve. To do this I followed all the pattern instructions for sewing the front center seam. After top stitching the seam allowances, I made sure to have a couple horizontal lines of stitching to the point I wanted my slit to end. Then I seam ripped the center seam up to those horizontal lines. Instant slit! 

Overall this pattern was very easy to follow and construct. This pattern is marked as “Beginner” however I’d probably rate it at a confidant beginner simply due to some of the sewing techniques needed such as zipper installation and button installation. I didn’t perform any size grading to my pattern and followed the suggested measurements that met my waist and hip measurements and it fits very well! I also am not as strong in sewing zippers and this pattern gave a very helpful set of instructions for an invisible zipper! I had minimal issues installing mine and it looks really wonderful! 

-Alyson Ridge