Of all the patterns we’ve ever produced, one of my favorites is our Liesl + Co City Stroll Wrap Skirt. It’s one of my essential wardrobe pieces. I wear it all year round. My very favorite version of this pattern is made of a wool suiting that I wear in every season, but in summer I add two skirts made from double gauze. I’ve also made it in crepe and denim (I still need to photograph that one), so this pattern has gotten a lot of use and wear for me.
In any case, when I saw this photo from J.Crew I knew it was time to show you how to lengthen the City Stroll pattern to make a similar-looking skirt. I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is!
This tutorial follows the approach from our basic tutorial for lengthening and shortening a pattern. You might want to read it first.
- To lengthen the City Stroll Skirt, first locate the skirt front, skirt back, and front facing pieces. Find the lengthen/shorten line on each piece. On all three pieces, this line runs across the piece, about halfway down.
- Cut each piece apart along the line, keeping the parts of each pattern piece together so you don’t forget which are which.
- Spread the two parts of each pattern piece according to the amount of length you want to add. Just for the fun of it (and because I like to wear long skirts) I added about 16″ when I made mine. For a look that’s closer to the inspiration photo you would probably add about 5-7″. Tape the spread pieces onto another piece of paper, taking care to align them using the grain line or cut on fold line as a guide.
- Then simply blend the contour lines for each piece to make a new cut line. And that’s it. You’ll sew the skirt exactly as you would sew the original (non-lengthened) City Stroll Skirt.
I made this skirt from rayon, and I must admit it’s not my favorite fabric for this style. Next time I’ll try linen or cotton, both of which would be less wavy at the curved hem. I think the skirt itself benefits from a fabric with a little more structure, too.
I hope you’ll have fun with this pattern and try different lengths. Quite a few of you have posted photos of your skirts on Instagram. I hope to see some longer versions show up as well!
What do you think? Will you try lengthening the skirt like this?