The Gabriola skirt pattern from Sewaholic has to be one of my  all time favourite patterns, it must be as this is the fourth time I’ve sewn it in the last twelve months, I’ve even made a chiffon one!

My fabric this time was a purple and gold batik, I’d seen it on line first but I wasn’t sure which colourway I liked, or if it would be too much. Then I spotted it in Samuel Taylors and I loved it, it feels lovely and soft and it was cheaper too! I bought 4m, knowing that Gabriola takes a lot of fabric.

The cotton is actually 60″ wide, so I could have bought less! When I was arranging my pattern pieces I decided that as there wasn’t any pattern direction or nap, I could put the front and back in opposite directions. I managed to get the skirt out of 2.5m, which is worth remembering!

I french-seamed the main skirt seams, I find a quick way to do french seams is to stitch a 2/8th seam wrong sides together, turn and press, then stitch a 3/8th seam right sides together, there shouldn’t be any feathers showing through and it adds up to 5/8ths. The yoke seams were finished using the overlock stitch on my sewing machine…I really must sort out my overlocker and start using it!!

I always have to concentrate when I start the Gabriola skirt in order to attach the yoke panels together correctly, this time I lay them out on the sewing table first so I knew I’d got the right shape! I top-stitched the yoke seams, both to emphasize the shaping and to give a bit of support to the bias seams. The zip was hand-stitched in as I find it easier than machine stitching. For the hem I machine stitched round a narrow hem.

I find the Gabriola so comfortable to wear, I love the way it swirls. I already have number 5 in my plans!