GARMENT STORY - Zero Waste Drawstring Test Skirt

by Lyndall Cave April 18, 2023

The front view of an ankle-length black skirt in a drapey fabric, with gathers at the waistband, on a dressform in a studio. There are some fake green vines in the background.

Zero Waste Drawstring Test Skirt - Black Polyester Crepe
Summer 2020

This is the first zero-waste garment I designed and made for LyndenTree Designs. Actually, come to think of it it might be the first zero-waste garment I ever made. It’s a simple gathered rectangle, with a self-fabric drawstring.

The skirt is two full widths of fabric (about 150cm ea, so about 3m at the hem). It’s sewn together with french seams, and a slit is left at the top of one seam, for the tie casing. The ties are the same, two full widths of fabric. This means it can be worn by many sizes, the smaller the size of the waist, the more heavily gathered the skirt will be. The drawback of the design is that the bow is in line with a seam, so either you have to tie a bow on the side of the skirt, or have a seam at the centre front.

I got a whole bunch of black fabric from BEL Designs, that was originally used for backdrops and table covers. So I upcycled it into a test skirt. This is the slinky black crepe, most likely polyester, that has a gorgeous drape. However, it was a pain in the butt to make the fabric edge square, because I couldn’t rip it like cotton, and pulling a thread was hard to see. Honestly I think I spent half the time just making the original rectangle, and the rest of the time cutting the pattern and sewing it. The final skirt is quite heavy, due to the sheer volume of crepe used.

When I first tried this on, I hated it. It made me feel like my teenage fundamentalist self wearing long skirts to church. However, the overall look grew on me, especially when I thought of it as a concert skirt, and I love the swishyness.

The design itself has enough cons that I won’t be using it in the future. While it’s fast and easy to make, I worry that it won’t hold up to long-term wear, because there’s a lot of strain put on the slit in the seam that also creates the openings for the drawstring. It’s a decent design for an occasional-wear garment, but it wouldn’t hold up to everyday wear and I’d rather focus on designs that are more durable.

Side view of an ankle-length black skirt in a drapey fabric, with gathers at the waistband, on a dressform in a studio. The ties from the waist make a bow at the centre back. There are some fake green vines in the background.

The back view of an ankle-length black skirt in a drapey fabric, with gathers at the waistband, on a dressform in a studio. The ties from the waist make a bow at the centre back. There are some fake green vines in the background.