Sewing Simplicity Pattern 2414, Misses Pants, Shorts and Skirts

I have more patterns than I will most likely ever use, although I have been working my way steadily through them. Many years ago I worked at the Fabric Place in Woburn, MA. At the end of each season, when the new pattern books came in, we had to clean out the old patterns from the drawers. Rather than return the hundreds of unused patterns to the manufacturers, the employees were allowed to take the "last season" patterns for free. I tell you, it was like Christmas in July.

Given my HUGE stock of patterns from those free days, as well as the plethora of vintage patterns I've acquired over the years, I never thought I'd buy a pattern again. But, I got sucked into the last $1 pattern sale at Joann's when I wanted to find a pattern that I loved, could make fairly quickly and came in a wide variety of sizes. This is how Simplicity pattern 2414 came to join my pattern library.

Not only is this an easy pattern to sew, but the tiered skirt allows me to use up pieces of fabric I have that are too small to make a full piece of clothing with, but just enough for a tier or waistband for the skirt in this sewing pattern.

This is the first skirt I made using this pattern. Click Here to see more photos. The waistband and bottom tier were leftover from a long forgotten project. The yoke and the first tier were fabrics I salvaged from bags of fabric given to me by people who were "just going to throw them away" if I didn't want them. (The horror!!!) The drawstring is a vintage piece of bias binding.

This pattern is very easy and is touted as taking only 1 hour to make. That can be done, if you leave your seams raw. But, unfinished seams lead to loose threads and possible unraveling of fabrics making the interior of the garment a mess and possibly leading to seams coming apart. I use french seams to create a finished more durable garment so it did take more than an hour to complete the skirt, but worth it in the end.

TIP 1: Measure the length and width of each skirt tier, yoke and waistband pattern piece for the size you wish to make. Use a quilters ruler and rotary cutter to cut the rectangles for the skirt. This saves you from pinning the pattern pieces to your fabric and then cutting with scissors.

TIP 2: Make a longer skirt but maintain the shape by making each tier wider while still keeping the same length. Do not change the width of the yoke or waistband though.

TIP 3: Use shoelaces for drawstrings. They are durable, the ends are finished and they come in a multitude of colors. I just bought a muli-sized pack of 8 sets of laces for $1 at the Dollar Store.

Here's a pair of capris I just finished. Click Here to see more photos. I just love the drawstring, paper bag style waistband. This pattern, like the tiered skirts, allowed me to use up some scrap fabric on the waistband, pockets and cuffs. The pink fabric was left over from a quilt I made for one of Sam's preschool teachers. Yup, I've held onto those bits for over 10 years. (Yikes!)