I snagged the Allegro pattern from Love Notions a couple months ago with the intent of making this exact skirt, and I’m SO glad that I did! This was my first time using a Love Notions pattern, and I’m happy with it! The pattern includes pant, shorts, and skirt options.
My skirt was inspired by this skirt (below) that I pinned to my Pinterest board a while ago. There are so many gathered skirt patterns out there, so you could do this with almost any of them (as long as it’s not too A-lined). I love that this one has a drawstring and that the waistband is stitched down. My inspiration skirt is still pretty cute…but mine has pockets! 😉
The pattern has a knee length skirt or a maxi length with a side slit option. I made the knee length and just added the bottom gathered panel myself. I made the size large (my measurements: 32″ waist, 42″ hips), and added 4″ of length to the top skirt portion. I made the bottom panel the length I needed so that it would be maxi length. I didn’t actually measure the panels width, I just cut them as wide as I possibly could with the fabric I had left.
To add the bottom gathered panel, I sewed the top skirt portion together first, then sewed the two bottom panel pieces right sides together. Then I basted and gathered so that it would fit in the bottom of the skirt. After stitching them together, I serged the seam, pressed it upward, and top-stitched the seam upward so that it wouldn’t rub against my leg.
The instructions were a different layout than I was used to, but I still figured it out just fine. The pattern is called the “Allegro jogger” online, and then called the “Allegro Pants & Shorts” and the “Allegro Bottoms” throughout the instructions. So don’t let that confuse you. If you’re familiar enough with how to make a skirt, then you won’t have any problems. If you are a beginner, I would recommend reading through the pattern and making sure you understand the order of operations before you get sewing.
The waistband instructions showed a different method that I hadn’t done before, and it worked pretty well, but I kind of want to look up a different way to do it next time.
The one thing I failed to do was to get the pockets and front drawstring in the right spots. The instructions say to evenly distribute the fabric and pin – which I did! – but I managed to get the pockets a little too far forward, and the front center is about an inch to one side. Not a big deal, but it’s definitely going to be something I pay closer attention to next time.
This fabric is 100% rayon from the LA fashion district, and it’s a very low quality. I was glad I didn’t have to unpick anything or I think it would have fallen apart! Haha. Next time, I plan on using a better quality rayon or a linen. In these photos I have it paired with a Stellan Tee (FREE pattern from French Navy!) in cotton/spandex.
I really like that the Allegro pattern includes the shorts and pants because I’ve been wanting to sew a pair of woven pants/joggers, and this pattern is going to work great for that!
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