Like I said, I’ve loved these patterns for a long time.  And when Gabriola came into the world, and after seeing Tasia’s versions and description, I decided, that it was one I could not live without. So, without any delay I ordered myself the pattern, which was with me pretty fast.  I always wanted a maxi skirt that does not make me look shorter.  

So after a visit at my local Abakhan store, I ended up with loads of fabric, as for this dress one needs quite a lot because of the long panels. I did get more fabric than I needed so the left over was used for a Lottie top, soon to be blogged about, hopefully.

For this one I was just in time to follow the sew-along at the time.  I did find it useful especially the part where Caroline advises how to cut pieces if you need two different sizes between waist and hips.

For me it was going down two sizes from waist to hip. So glad, I read the post about it. Then the rest was pretty easy to do.

For my fashion fabric I used a fabric that is a bit see through, so I expected that by the time my skirt was ready, I might need to  add some lining to it to prevent  showing off too much.

I did have to get a lining in, I thought it will be easy to just make up the lining skirt the same as the skirt itself and then when ready to add the waist band stitch them together. And I have seen how easy it is, by reading LladyBird’s post about it  – http://lladybird.com/2014/04/28/completed-the-gabriola-maxi-skirt/.

As  I am on the short side, I started by cutting on the smallest size vertically, but I still had to take about 10 cm off the length. Paper pattern amended as well. The lining was cut on the shorten/lengthen line and it just about hit my knees. Great stuff as I do intend to make a shorter version once I make another maxi out of some cord living in my stash for years. Just ignore the mess behind me. Sewing room looks like that when I am in the zone .