White Lace Maxi Skirt

A few years ago I saw this lace skirt on Net-A-Porter and loved it:

It's by Alice + Olivia and was made of silk and tulle. I added it to my "Lace" Pinterest board and went searching for a fabric. Eventually I found just what I wanted at Moodfabrics.com, but it sat in my stash for several years and is completely sold out. The fabric is an ivory nylon lace, and I layered it over a lining of white tricot. I wanted this skirt to be washable and not too formal, so I went with a comfortable/stretchy fabric for the lining.

I'm not that brave when it comes to drafting and definitely had to think through how I wanted to make this garment. I decided to use my TNT skirt pattern - McCall's 3830 - for the skirt lining and extended it down to the top of my feet. For walking ease I left the sides of the lining open from the knees down. I used the width of the lace for the width of the skirt and only had to make one seam in the back. I then gathered the lace onto the lining and attached my back zipper and waistband.

Since the width of the lace was about 60", I did not need to add a slit to the lace. I hand stitched the lace hem in place.

The waistband was made from white Petersham grosgrain ribbon. This is my preferred method of adding a waistband to a delicate fabric, especially lace. The ribbon is 3" wide and folded over onto the top of the skirt. I stitched it on the outside first, then folded it onto the inside and whip-stitched it in place with tiny stitches.

I used an invisible zipper for the closure.

This was a relatively easy garment to make, once I figured out how I wanted to go about it. I plan to make or buy a white tank top to pair with it, as I really like the example outfit of the original.