Nani Iro Pleated Wave Skirt

2019 was the year of my second trip to Japan, my second trip to Nippori Fabric Town and my second haul to bring back to the UK. You may remember I posted a roundup of my previous haul (you can read it here) and I'm tempted to do the same again soon. There's just one small issue - I'm still working my way through the first batch of fabric!

On my first trip to Japan I made a small pilgrimage to the Nani Iro store. I had my heart set on a wave print for a waterproof coat (maybe with a large skirt attached). But, I came away with 3m of the Five Senses blue print on canvas. I was looking for a slightly different print with more pronounced brush strokes, but I couldn't find it on the day and so I came home with this. The Five Senses print stayed in my stash cupboard for over 2 years while I tried to work out what to do with it. Eventually on the 2019 August Bank Holiday I dragged it out and was determined to make something with it.

My brain was slightly fried at the time and I wasn't up to following a pattern, so the make had to be relatively simple and have relatively simple pattern pieces. I settled on a pleated rectangle midi skirt. The straight hem edge would show off the border print, the rectangular pattern pieces would give me a low waste cutting layout and the repetitive pleating would soothe my tired brain. If you're curious about the length, I am slightly in love with the Japanese fashion for skirts that fall below the knee.

So this skirt is made of the following pieces:
1x Front
2x Back
2x Inseam pockets (2 pieces each)
1x Lining
1x Waistband

I dithered a lot on whether the outer skirt should be 1 piece or 3, but in the end the 3-piece approach won. I knew I wanted pockets and a CB invisible zip and it seemed much easier to insert them into seams compared to the slashing/facing approach. The lining is only one piece, and has a seam at CB to accommodate the zip.

To retain the flow of the print (not quite pattern matching, but similar) I marked the centre of the fabric and used that as the Centre Front. The side/back panels are essentially cut off each end of the fabric. It looks alright. I don't really remember construction but I think I pleated each piece first, then inserted the pockets, then sorted out the seams. All the pleating was done with a fork at the machine (somewhere between 3:1 and 4:1 ratio). I think maybe the pleats would look better if they were a bit bigger/wider, but I only really have a limited selection of forks.

I used the selvedge to hem the lining and bias tape on the outer hem. The seams are French-seamed.

The waistband is pretty poor, but it does the job. I wanted a soft waistband, so there's no interfacing but now it twists a bit. I also wanted to do something clever and insert a partial elastic to allow for some sizing flexibility - but it doesn't look great. I will need to try again on something else. Oh, and my topstitching/stitching in the ditch leaves a lot to be desired here.

Side seam (I promise) with nothing in the pocket

Side seam. Proving there is a pocket!

In all honesty, I love this skirt. It's so fun and bold. It's so full because I pleated all 3m to my waist, and it has some superstar invisible pockets. It was out of rotation for the winter (except Xmas?) but I feel it will be a really good one for the British spring/autumn climates.

K