Hey friends! Now that we’ve completed the Brumby skirt sewalong, I thought I’d share a fun hack with you! Of course, one of the easiest hacks you can do to most skirts is to add a gathered tier. But I figured why not switch it up from a basic gathered tier to something a little different, and make it an asymmetrical gathered tier instead! Higher on one side, lower on the other and perfectly gathered.
This hack works best on Version 1, with no centre front seam and no pockets.
First I’ll walk you through how to alter the pattern (you’ll need a wide, large roll of paper for the pattern alteration!), and then how to sew it together. Because of the nature of this hack, the order in which we construct it is slightly different than the order in the Brumby instructions, but we’ll get to that. Want to see how to do it? Let’s go!
Ok, let’s take a look at the Version 3 skirt pattern piece. It is both the front a back skirt, cut on the fold for the front.
Using a large roll of paper, trace the skirt pattern and mirror it at the centre, creating one full skirt front pattern. Mark the centre front.
On the left side, mark 8″ down from the top.
On the right side, mark 6″ up from the bottom.
Using a straight ruler, connect these two markings to form your asymmetrical line.
Cut along this line.
Set the bottom half aside.
On the top half, use scrap paper to add 5/8″ seam allowance along the bottom edge.
This is now your Skirt top FRONT pattern piece (shorter side on the left, longer side on the right).
Now trace the skirt top to create a second one, again making sure the centre is marked.
Flip the new/second one over, so it’s a mirror image (the longer side is now on the left, the shorter side on the right).
Cut in half along the centre markings.
Using scrap paper, add 5/8″ seam allowance to each side at the centre.
Also, use more scrap paper to add 5/8″ seam allowance to the bottom edges of each half.
Notice on the original skirt pattern piece, the two notches at the centre…
Transfer these markings to each side at the centre.
This is now the Skirt top BACK pattern piece.
Notice how the front and back are opposite / mirror images of each other. This is important.
Now let’s go back to the bottom half of the skirt. Again, make sure the centre is marked.
Using the centre line as a starting point, draw vertical lines 3″ apart. Number each section to help keep everything in order in the next few steps.
Also, draw a horizontal line through all sections.
Roll out a very long roll of paper. This is going to be quite a large pattern piece when we’re done!
Draw a long horizontal line
Cut the bottom skirt into pieces along each vertical line.
Lay each section down onto the large piece of paper, about 1.5″ apart, lining up the horizontal lines for correct placement. Tape each section in place.
Use the numbers to make sure the sections are in the right order.
Keep repeating until all sections are laid out and taped down. See – that’s one long pattern piece!
True the seams along the top and bottom edges, and side seams if necessary. Truing a seam means re-drawing the line of the seam so it’s smooth, as you can see from the red line in the image above.
Cut out this new large pattern piece, which is now your Skirt Bottom, both front and back. You will need to cut two MIRRORED so they are in opposite directions.
Now you can cut everything out from the fabric. You’ll be cutting on your fabric open, not folded. One skirt top front, one set of skirt top back, and two mirrored skirt bottoms (as well as your waistband pieces and facings).
Tie to sew! Let’s start with the top BACK pieces. Make sure those centre notches are transferred to your fabric.
As per the Brumby instructions, cut two pieces of fusible interfacing to be 1 1/4″ wide and 8″ long. Attach them to the wrong side of the back pattern pieces so that they line up with the centre edges and waist seam.
Also, I forgot to do this here – but finish the raw edges of your centre back!
This is where the order of construction is going to stray from the Brumby instructions. Normally, the waistband would be attached first before doing the centre back seam. But we need to do things a little differently here with this hack.
We will technically be following the first few steps in the instructions for installing the zipper, but with different measurements, and in a different order.
First using tailor’s chalk, then by sewing basting stitches on your machine, mark a rectangle on the centre back pattern pieces (on top of the waistband and fusible interfacing), 7 1/4″ down and 7/8″ across. (make note that this measurement is different than in the instructions, as the waistband is not attached yet here).
Now finish following the steps for preparing for the zipper by pressing back the zipper opening, sewing closed the rest of the centre back at 5/8″, and pressing the seam open.
Since we are already working with the skirt back, let’s continue constructing that.
Grab the ‘skirt bottom’ for the back. Make sure it’s the one that lines up with the back seam!
Set your sewing machine to the longest stitch length and sew a line of basting stitches 5/8″ from the raw edge along the top edge of the bottom skirt. Do not backstitch and ensure that you leave long threads on each end.
Sew a second line of basting stitches 3/8″ from the raw edge.
To gather simply hold the skirt stationary and pull on one of the threads to gather up the skirt.
Gather until it roughly lines up with the bottom edge of the top half, as shown above.
With right sides together, Place the ‘skirt bottom’ on top of the top of the ‘skirt top’, lining up the raw edges and matching up the centre front notches.
Adjust your gathers, and pin in place.
Sew 5/8″ from the raw edge and finish the raw edge with your preferred method.
Press the seam up towards the skirt top.
Repeat the same gathering process with the skirt FRONT pieces.
Now place the skirt Front and skirt Back on top of each other with right sides together. Line up the raw edges of the side seams, matching up the seam points. Pin together.
Sew 5/8″ from the raw edge along both side seams. Finish the raw edge with your preferred method. Press the seam towards the back.
Now continue to assemble the waistband, gather the waist, and attach the waistband to the skirt following the Brumby instructions.
Once it’s attached, extend your zipper basting markings and stitches all the way to the top of the waistband on both sides.
Now it’s ready to install your exposed zipper, following the Brumby instructions. Everything from here on out is step-by-step from the Brumby instructions.
Just finish it up with the waistband facing and hem as normal, and it’s all done!
Isn’t that asymmetrical gathered seam line pretty cool? Something a little different from your usual gathered tier!
LOOKING FOR MORE BRUMBY POSTS?
- How to choose between Brumby & Brumby Curve
- Sewalong: Pockets
- Sewalong: Center Front (Version 1 & 2) & Side Seams (All)
- Sewalong: Waistband and Gathers
- Sewalong: Zipper
- Sewalong: Waistband Facing (this post!)
- Sewalong: Hem
- Hack: Asymmetrical Gathered Tier (this post!)
- Introducing Brumby
- Tutorial: How to insert an exposed zipper
- Tutorial: How to gather heavy fabrics
DON’T HAVE THE PATTERN YET?
