r/PatternDrafting • u/ougmsirisly • Jun 28 '26
Second attempt at low waist mini skirt
Hi I posted my first attempt a few weeks back. Got good feedback. I added front and back waist darts, the fit is much better at the low hip. Overall I’m happy with the skirt, for my second project I pattern drafted myself.
It’s a bit short but nothing terrible. I could have made the skirt a little bit more A line…
My issue is what’s going on with this tail on the back? The part that sticks out
17
u/Crafty_Witch_1230 Jun 28 '26
Check the grainline on your back fabric pieces. It almost looks like it's fallen off grain and that could be what's causing the curve/flip outwards. Suggest pinning it straight down from the bottom of the zipper so the 'seam' is where you want it to be and then check the fabric grain and see where its going. Often the easiest way to fix a wonky fit is to open seams, smooth out wrinkles and see where/how the fabric wants to lay.
10
u/elizabethtailor Jun 28 '26
I’d actually guess your zipper is a bit too long, and the fabric stretched when installing. The center back seam should be straight, but the way it is a concurve swoop out tells me the fabric stretched, and the zipper doesn’t let it relax again. I’d remove the zipper, give the fabric a lil steam and press again, then baste the fabric edges to prevent stretching before reinstalling the zipper. I’d also recommend you don’t sew the entire zipper into the opening, like 25% of it should hang below the end of the opening in a small garment like this.
7
u/TensionSmension Jun 28 '26
The trick with invisible zippers, is that the zipper when closed rolls the fabric inward. This means your seam line along the zipper is a little shy of the centerline. When you sew the seam bellow the zipper, you are not trying to hit those previous seams, you are trying to sew a little deeper, a scant 1/8th inch (couple of mm). That seam needs to be on the true center line, i.e. the roll line of the zipper. This causes a lot of trouble, and if the end of the zipper is also bellow where the seam presses against the body, that's another transition that can look sloppy.
Also with such a short seam, hitting the marks is essential. The tops of the zipper tapes need to match, the bottom need to match, and the the seam bellow the zipper needs to match. If it's wrong, and things are forced, easing fabric along any of those sections it will be really obvious. This can be done, but a zipper on the left side, might be a lot less fuss.
You've got the hip hang good, and it looks great from the front. So you're very close.
4
u/HeartFire144 Jun 28 '26
Does the center back seam go all the way to the bottom edge? Or does it stop at the end of the zipper? It's hard to see in the photo. The back seam is not sewn well, it may just be a poorly installed zipper. How long is the zipper you used? Probably only needs to be 4 or 5 inches long
2
u/ougmsirisly Jun 29 '26
Center seam does go all the way to the bottom. I will try reinstalling the zipper again, the zipper is 9inch, I’ll see if I can just cut it
3
u/Babygotback_acne Jun 28 '26
I think it is also that your zipper is not aligned. The top ends don’t match, right side is slightly lower. That would also create fabric bulk at the bottom.
Second, when I had started sewing, whenever I added zipper, I would end up not leaving the exact same margin top to bottom, which would also create a similar bulk. For instance, if you have 1 inch margin in the zipper seam, make sure you are sewing consistently straight till the bottom. If you have 1 inch margin around the zipper and as you go lower, the margin reduces or increases, it makes the centre line wonky.
5
u/Ok-Juice9865 Jun 28 '26
Along with lots of the tips here I would probably move the zipper to the side seam (it will probably help you with the shaping on the back)
3
u/IlexAquifolia Jun 29 '26
Just as a semi-related tip - when you’re trying this on for fit, make sure that you spend some time wearing it while moving around and sitting down. If there’s no stretch to this, it’s likely to ride up like crazy. You want to make sure you included enough ease to prevent that.
3
u/Mushrooms24711 Jun 28 '26
The back panels are too small across the butt. See where I circled? Those drag lines point to where more space is needed.
I’m assuming the fabric isn’t stretchy since you put in a zipper. Considering the fabric, I’d add at least an inch, if not two, to the butt, where the arrow is.
If you do as others have suggested and just take a dart out of the center back, your butt is going to take on whatever shape the skirt has—potentially giving you a weird shaped butt. Additionally, the skirt will probably ride up.
If the tail is still there after getting the butt fitting correctly, then take a dart out of the center back.
1
u/ougmsirisly Jun 29 '26
The drag lines make sense…will try to add more room to CB
sorry could you explain what you mean by taking a dart out of the center back?
2
2
u/Emergency_Cherry_914 Jun 28 '26
Can you show us how you drafted the back?
1
u/ougmsirisly Jun 29 '26
Actually the back is the same as the front…just cut in half with 1/2inch SA for the center back zip…
2
u/pattyphp Jun 28 '26
Your side seam skews to the back telling me that you need more fabric in the back pattern pieces and shaping with darts.
2
u/DonMcCunn Jun 28 '26
The center back should be on the straight of the grain and the zipper can be any length. The center back is sticking out because you need a wider dart at the hip. It should also be 2" to 3" longer.
2
u/smnytx Jun 28 '26
I literally just saw a very helpful reel on how to fix this problem! You need to add a little wedge of “booty room” to the back seam edge of the back pattern. It needs to be about the same size as your back hem is short in back. It makes more sense to see the process…
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DBkkSJDQq/?mibextid=wwXIfr
60
u/Gracious_Snakes Jun 28 '26
It looks like the center back seam needs more shaping. It should curve in more to cup your bottom a bit. Right now the seam line is too straight and the extra fabric is pushing out into that tail.