Bicycling Skirt, 1950s

 A quick project from one of the 1950s Haslan books: a bicycling skirt. I made it up in mid-weight linen, so it photographs horrible, but is really comfortable to wear in the current heat-wave.

Bicycling Skirt, 30 seconds after ironing

Even with felling the seams (necessary to keep the linen from unravelling in the wash), this pattern made up quickly: two hours from cut pieces to finished garment. It's basically a four-piece, shaped-seam, mid-calf-length skirt with each piece extended at the center front/back. This pattern was a bonus at the end of the book, so there was no garment illustration, just the draft with instructions to take a large pleat the center front and back. 

 

My construction process began with joining up the left front/back pieces into one left "leg" and the right front/back pieces into another, then hemming each leg, sewing the two together at the fork (basically making a pair of giant shorts) and then fitting it into a waistband using a large inverted box-pleat at the center front and center back. This puts all the extra fabric in the center and provides lots of ease for movement. With no fastening information, I put a zipper in the right side-seam with a hook/bar at the waistband. 

I am mostly happy with the result: it's comfortable to wear, and easy to take on and off. In appearance, the skirt is adequate: neither sloppy nor super flattering. I used a new zipper-insertion method Jessica showed me, to good effect--you baste the seam, sew the zipper to each seam allowance, and cut the basting--it goes in quickly, and makes a functional fastener, albeit a visible one. The waistband is self fabric, folded in half. The instructions had it assembled in four slightly sloped pieces, but also called for folding it down, would have made a mess of the sloped pieces. I instead used a rectangular band with straight sides. I think a shaped waistband (two separate layers) could make a lovely variation in the future.

Next time (and there will be many more), I will put a pocket in the side seam opposite the zipper. Honestly, I'll probably add one to this skirt within a week. I'll also skip the small pleats I added to the waist at the skirt's side seams, as the fullness is generous enough through the hips without it, and it only makes the lines look awkward. Until I actually get good at zippers, I probably won't be making any of these split skirts for smart ensembles, but I do intend to make another one or two for practical summer daywear. This skirt is much more comfortable than jeans or even shorts for walking, gardening, pitching tents, and other summery activities. The split skirt has most of the benefits of a skirt (flowy, draping, loose fit) and of shorts (protection from chafing and accidental exposure). Each leg is very generously cut, so it might be possible to have problems with the skirt flying up, but it would take some pretty extreme gymnastics to make that an issue.