asmita’s garibaldi skirt

We love the vibrant red Garibaldi Skirt sewn by Asmita! This post describes how she quickly added a lining to the skirt. Take it away, Asmita!

When the Garibaldi skirt pattern was released, I was excited because, for the longest time, I wanted a skirt exactly like this but had not found the right pattern to make it. I was also itching to sew something with a fabric other than cotton or linen (my go-to choices), and an A-line skirt seemed simple enough to do just that.

Because I was planning to make a skirt in a new to me fabric, I decided to stick to the simpler silhouette and go with version B. I made a muslin in size 10, but that proved a tad tight on the waist and so went up to size 12 on the waist. With only two pattern pieces, this alteration is very quick to make. Version B has a waist facing, and so the real challenge was how to attach a lining to the skirt. Here is how I went about it:

Attaching the lining

1. I folded the lower long side on the facing towards the wrong side by 3/8” after attaching interfacing to the facing fabric (also my main fabric).
2. Just as one would cut the skirt’s front and back pieces, I cut the skirt’s front and back in lining fabric as well (with a 1.5” shortened length in case of the lining)
3. Take one piece of lining, say the front. Keeping the right side up, I aligned the front facing piece on it, also with the right side up (i.e., the wrong side of the facing was now facing the right side of the lining).
4. I edge-stitched the bottom edge of the facing to the lining (photo insert: edgestitch facing to lining bottom edge)
5. Finally, I turned around the entire thing so that the wrong side of the lining is now facing up. I cut off the top part of the lining to now expose the facing leaving about ½” SA of the lining fabric. 

This is the same method used in a step-by-step tutorial on the blog. Check it out to see additional photos with great instructions.

Can one entirely sidestep the facing and just attach the lining to the main skirt fabric directly? While I think it is possible, one needs to keep in mind that in this version, the skirt has no waistband and so could possibly (along with the lining) stretch without anything to hold it up. The facings, which are only about a smidge shorter than the skirt, hold up the skirt nicely at the waist, and ultimately add to the comfort.

Once the lining is in place and attached to the facings, I simply followed all the steps for sewing the side seams as I would with the skirt. The zipper is now nicely ensconced between the two layers, and the skirt has a very neat appearance inside out! Finally, I simply hemmed the lining like I would the skirt. (photo insert: inside lining). (If you are wondering why my lining has two different fabrics, that’s simply because I made a mistake and didn’t purchase enough fabric for the lining and had to make do with a different shade of red that I had at home)

And that’s it, and it was as simple as that! I love how the skirt looks and feels. The fabric is ajrakh print on modal silk, and since I inadvertently chose red, I feel like I have made a new outfit for myself to wear this Christmas!