This is hands down the easiest skirt I’ve ever made. It’s also without a doubt the most comfortable! Don’t you love whipping out a project in no time at all? Those are few and far between for me, but I’m thinking it would be nice to add more of them into my sewing rotation. It just feels so good to have something done and done with minimal effort (and cost!).

But before I chat about the skirt, I just wanted to add that these photos were taken next to Grand Central where I was meeting friends for drinks at the Campbell Apartment. I may have asked one of them to snap some photos while we waited for everyone else to arrive. :-D I later headed over to meet up with Lladybird Lauren (in from Nashville), Vicki of Another Sewing Scientist (in from Montreal), Juli of Sweet Little Chickadee, Fleur of Frau Fleur, and other lovely ladies! Gotta love Friday night in Manhattan chatting about irons, sewing machine repair, and Elna presses. ;)

PATTERN. None, and done! Originally I was going to use the Sewaholic Cambie gathered skirt pattern, but I didn’t have nearly enough fabric (wow, gathered skirts take up a lot of yardage). I realized I didn’t need it to be super gathered, so I just took some basic measurements to create this skirt. My main goal was to let the fabric do the work – it’s so eye-catching that I didn’t want to touch it too much. Let it be the star of the show, I say!

FABRIC. I used the most amazing rayon knit from Metro Textiles in the Garment District. I think I first heard about this store through Sown Brooklyn‘s Instagram feed, so thanks, Nettie! You have to take an elevator and turn the corner to a small store to get there. I scored two yards of this super soft fabric for $5 per yard.

I love the print, which is perhaps difficult to see in photos so I added some close-ups! It reminds me of tiles you might come across in some city off the Mediterranean. Not that I’m an expert on Mediterranean tiles, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ;)

Besides the blue and white, there are small bits of warm yellow in it. In typical me fashion I would have bought one more yard to make a dress, but this was the last of the bolt. Soft, pretty, $5 a yard – don’t blame those buyers before me!

SIZE. Super easy. I cut the fabric from selvedge to selvedge for the width (so there’s only one serged side seam) and then cut the length about 25″ long, which is the length I use when I want the hem to hit below the knee. I ended up making it a little longer so I wouldn’t cut off the motif on bottom.

NOTIONS. I had 2″ wide white elastic on hand that I used for the waistband, which I then inserted into a fabric casing. I like using a safety pin to draw the elastic through the casing. Bodkins are the pits, if you ask me!

To gather the skirt, I just shirred two rows starting at about 5/8″ from the seam edge. They sit about 1/4″ apart. Easy peasy gathering! I left the gathering stitches exposed just below the waistband, which wasn’t my original intention, but I liked the effect and left it.

For the hem, I used a narrow hem stitch on my serger. I liked the ripple effect this stitch created on one of my RTW dresses, and that’s the look I got here.

I think this is a nice effortless style for the summer, and I can see myself pairing it with flats in the fall and spring. It just goes to show that a simple project every once in a while isn’t a bad thing. And sometimes all you really need to do is let the fabric be the focus and that’s all there is to it!