Midi skirts that are anything but mid.
What the Roman Columns are to architecture, the column skirt is to fashion: classic!
Above: Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in various column midi skirts in the ‘90s; Roman columns image via Wikipedia, skirt sloper image via sewyourtv.com
It’s the first silhouette you learn to pattern and sew in design school: a simple skirt. It’s literally the block from which you create a skirt or dress design, called a sloper. And I believe in part due to its classically-informed design, the column skirt, specifically, will always look polished and have a place in current fashion.
Just like writers often start with reading classic literature, apparel designers learn about the rudimentary silhouettes first. Personally I think I had to gain some distance on design school to appreciate more fully the beauty of elemental garment design. I think—and maybe it’s a generational tendency—we’re all a bit eager to leave our imprint without considering the foundations of our industry. And sometimes not overthinking a garment design creates the best style. The personality in styling can come through and the fabric can really sing in something as stripped down as a no-nonsense, no pockets, nothing but a zip to get into the garment, (skirt) design. And just like with any visual art, we often collectively need a palette cleanser after experiencing a hyper-stimulating era. We alwaaaays come back to basics and start again and that’s why minimalism will always ring true for someone’s self-expression, somewhere.
While we can’t all be Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, we can surely all have our 90s minimalist days, or even more so, wardrobe basics from which to build an outfit.
I remember sewing my first skirt muslin (that is a prototype for garments using muslin fabric which is most often a starchy cotton plain weave) and my first design choice was an A-line button front. The buttonholes turned out to be a headache using an old school sewing machine without automated buttonhole features, but I remember thinking “OK I can do this—I can approach skills I’ve never used before.”
(yes, we’re an UNO fam)…above 1) second hand JOSEPH raw hem viscose blend midi skirt w/ second hand Marques’ Almeida cotton twill top, 2) second hand JOSEPH velvet slight A-line skirt w/ LACAUSA rib knit cardigan, 3) second hand Luca Luca wool skirt w/ vintage American American Eagle cotton turtleneck
But! I have less column skirts than I’d previously thought and writing this week’s CRACD has got me thinking I would love to add a simple bias cut slip skirt and maybe a few more column styles, similar to my shopping links below, to my rotation. But for the time being, I’ve snuck in a full A-line skirt, too, even though it isn’t technically a column shape! It is at least a flat front (no pleats, gathers, etc) so close enough…
For woven garments, the skirt is construction-wise the simplest to pattern and sew, especially when you loose pockets and complicated design details. So the price differences you’ll see will almost surely come down to fabric. If you’re going for a slip skirt, I recommend opting for silk and bias cut. Viscose or acetate satin are good back-up options. A reminder that bias cut is when the pattern pieces to make a garment are cut from the fabric at a 45 degree angle—at this angle, the warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads give the fabric more of an elastic quality. Bias cut garments therefore have a more luxurious drape, making for their signature body-skimming silhouettes. Bias cut is also more expensive due to fabric usage and instability while sewing, making the fabric more difficult and time-consuming to work with.
Some general things to look for when shopping for a skirt:
Hook & eye or waist tab with hidden hook & eye atop the zipper—you want it to stay zipped after all.
If unlined, French seams (see example below). These are a clean finished seam type that is more expensive because there are double the orders of operation for one seam (like flat-felled). Most often used on delicate fabric. Fabric-depending, binding or pressed open seam allowances is also good.
How is the hem finished? Sometimes with a weighty satin or a velvet, the hem is left unfinished as a design detail (to show off the fabric style/quality) and to keep the skirt laying extra straight. Again, fabric-depending, double turned clean finished or a hem tape/binding is also acceptable.
Unless you’re buying custom-fitted to your body (lucky you), hip curve can be really hard to get right. That’s why I recommend a bias cut if that’s the style you’re looking for because the drape of the fabric does the fit work for you, in a way. If not bias cut, look for more fitting devices like darts going into the waist, and less of the overly-shaped side seams doing the fit work.
If the column skirt in question is straight and not bias cut (you can tell by the item description), make sure it has a back vent or slit. There is no more annoying closet malfunction than not being able to step normally because the hem opening does not include a vent. Vent construction is a little more complex and will thus add cost to the garment.
(this one is getting very technical & quality-based, so skip over if you’re not my patternmaking or sewing professors lol) If there is a waistband, how is it finished? “Stitch in the ditch” is a faster, by machine construction method and you will notice a stitch line all the way around the edge of the waistband, visible from the outside. True high quality construction includes a hand-finished waistband on the inside with no visible stitching. Of course if visible topstitching throughout the garment is the design choice, that’s a different story!
Above: left image via sempstress.org https://www.sempstress.org/skill/french-seam/ ; right image via sewingcafewithlynne.blogspot.com
The stitch in the ditch waistband above is listed in the shopping links below as #3, in case you don’t care about such things…
Above: Gwyneth Paltrow in Great Expectations, (1998)
Enjoy tights/hosiery-free skirt wearing for a little while longer before it becomes too frigid :) see you next week. xHannah
Almost makes me want to start sewing again so I can make myself some new skirts—I love these styles and find they are such a flattering style for almost all.
Really enjoyed the article. What is the difference between a column skirt & a pencil skirt?