Today I'm going to show you how to easily adjust the length on the maxi skirt pieces. Since the Summer Dawn was drafted as a circle skirt it is best to add length or shorten from the bottom of the pieces as to preserve the circle. However, with the way the pieces are split to conserve paper and taping efforts when printing the maxi at home, there is another way to do this which is much easier when trying to shorten quite a bit (think midi skirt).
Start with the back skirt and decide how much length you are wanting to add or remove. If you are average height the maxi skirt will be approximately 2" longer in the back as it was drafted to be worn with heels, so keep that in mind. I measured from the floor to where I wanted the skirt to hit on my leg (13") and then added 2". Which gave me a total of 15" that I wanted to remove from the length. You'll notice on the maxi skirt pieces they state that they should be placed 15.75" apart. Therefore, 15.75" - 15" = .75" this is the new distance I came up with to place the back pattern piece.
Note: I just noticed my top pattern piece shown here does not have markings, I must have used a pre-testing piece! Both of your pieces should be either face up or face down just as long as they are the same and on the fold.
The most important thing when making this adjustment is making sure you cut the angle starting at the top of the pattern piece and follow it down as shown with the yellow line in the pic above.
Next measure the length on the side of the skirt that is open. For example, this one is 29.25"".
Next lay out your front skirt pieces, these are mirror images and not cut on the fold. Take the distance you just measured and spread out the pattern pieces so that they are the same length along the straight (not angled) side. For example, the skirt pieces above will end up being a total of 29.25" for my skirt as measured by the purple measuring tape.
Now that the pieces are the correct distance, you will want to use your straight edge to follow the angle of the top pattern piece down to cut the skirt.
Here is a quick look at the pieces if you are using this method to remove just a couple inches, for example you are slightly shorter than what the pattern is drafted for or would just simply like the maxi to be floor length to be worn with flats. You'll need to do the same measurements as above and use the angle off the top pattern pieces.
And that's it, you are ready to cut the rest of your pieces per the pattern and start your Summer Dawn!!
Comments will be approved before showing up.
