Pattern Review - Simplicity S0433/1201

I was so excited to make this pattern. I love maxi skirt patterns, and the tulip effect of of View D had me hooked, which is why I bought this pattern on an impulse. 

I wish it had turned out well. I bought a midweight melon colored knit for the pattern, and all was well until I got to the waistband. 

The skirt draped beautifully, and the only hairy part was the gathering of the center front. The guide sheet doesn't adequately describe that you have to gather each section, baste them together, then add more gathering stitches to the combined front and then gather all of that again.

I don't know if a jersey would've handled that better ,but I just think there were too many rows of stitching on top of one another to make the last set of gathers work well. That could've been done better, but I made it work.

I decided to make the pattern at a 20 because that's the size my hips are, and just cut the elastic band at a size 18, which is my waist measurement. All should have been fine. Then I got to the waist band.

The elastic was encased inside the facing for the top of the skirt. The problem with this is that with the gathers at the center front of the skirt made it heavy. Heavy enough to pull down and look silly. A yoke would've been fine, but would not have aligned with the tidy look of the top. Maybe a lighter knit would've been ok, but I doubt it. There's a lot of fabric at the center. So needless to say, I'm done with this skirt.

I could try and fix it, but it's not worth my time. I don't like how the construction of the waistband fit on my body, and even though I cut the skirt out for my size, it's not flattering.

I have more knit fabric, and will just make a traditional column maxi skirt. No frills, just keeping it simple.

So there's the disappointing skirt from last week.