Merchant & Mills Flat Front Gathered Skirt

Since we recently launched fabric in the shop (yay! dream come true), I have been working my way through making samples. This gorgeous skirt came together on a whim and I am absolutely in love with it. While it 's currently residing in our brick and mortar shop - I am awaiting the day this autumn that I can bring it home and add it to my wardrobe.

Materials:

2 yards Merchant and Mills Cottage Garden Indian Cotton

1 inch elastic (about 16 inches worth)

Cream sewing thread

Rotary Cutter, Mat and Ruler

Pattern:

Flat Front Gathered Skirt Tutorial - I used Alice Irvine's free blog tutorial as the basis to draft up this pattern for myself. I love being able to tweak the fullness and length of this skirt as well as use my own exact measurements. This ensures that the fit is good AND I don't have to fuss with any sort of paper pattern.

In order to maximize the gorgeous fabric (and make the skirt as zero waste as possible), I simply used the width of the fabric as my skirt length. After cutting the waistband front and back, I split the rest of my yardage for the front and back of the skirt. I omitted the pockets from the tutorial as I knew that this thin, flowing fabric would be too weighted down if you put anything into a pocket.

I was left with only a few small rectangles of fabric, which I will gladly keep for quilting projects. 

I am extremely happy with this make and will certainly use the tutorial to make more in the future. In hindsight, I wish that I would have put this type of flat front on my White Doen Dupe skirt since it has a much more polished look. 

I loved styling this skirt with a simple green t-shirt, but can also imagine sewing up a Honeygirl tee to match as well as styling it for autumn with my recently finished Agnete Cardigan by Petite Knit.

This skirt is really the perfect beginner project — and with the right fabric choice (don't use quilting cotton!), you’ll end up with a garment that looks like it came from a boutique (but you made it yourself!).