GARMENT STORY - Cordata Test Skirt

by Lyndall Cave April 18, 2023

A short knee-length elastic waistband skirt in a drapey rayon print that's dark blue with white flowers is displayed on a dress form, showing the front view. In the background are some fake green vines.

Cordata Test Skirt - Rayon Print
July 2020

For some reason I thought this was the third zero-waste design I made, but it’s actually the second zero-waste garment I finished.

I think the confusion comes because I made it at the same time as my first iteration of the Europaea skirt. The Cordata uses ⅓ the width of a regular dress fabric, and the Europaea test skirt uses the other ⅔ of the width. This is a simple elastic-gathered skirt, using cotton-wrapped rubber elastic originally intended for swimwear. I went with the swim elastic instead of regular elastic to avoid polyester.

The fabric is one of three fabrics I purchased from Fabricland specifically for LyndenTree Designs test skirts. It’s a drapey rayon print.

This is a fun, airy, summery style, and I’m happy with the overall design. I don’t have anything much more remarkable to say about this skirt, since it’s a pretty standard elastic-gathered rectangle skirt. It’s mainly interesting because it works together with the Europaea test skirt to make both designs truly zero-waste. Some designs aren’t zero-waste on their own, but can be cut with another design to make both completely zero-waste.

“Tilia Cordata” is the scientific name for the Little-Leafed Linden, because I wanted something that implied ‘short skirt’.

The success of this skirt really depends on the fabric being lightweight and drapey, so whether or not I make more of these in the future really depends on the fabric I’m currently working with.

A short knee-length elastic waistband skirt in a drapey rayon print that's dark blue with white flowers is displayed on a dress form, showing the side view. In the background are some fake green vines.

Closer back view of a short knee-length elastic waistband skirt in a drapey rayon print that's dark blue with white flowers. It's displayed on a dress form. In the background are some fake green vines.