Skirt

The classical skirt is made of several straight length of fabric, gathered at the waist. This wide and long skirt, gathered at the waist, is called a Full Skirt. Its rectangular panels make it as wide at the waist as the hem. This provides enough fullness for grace and elegance in this modest everyday skirt.

The skirt sits at the woman's natural waistline with the skirt hemline falling to the ankles. Due to its fullness it does not cling to the hips smoothing out the bumps, falls flowingly, sways gently while walking and provides freedom of movement.

Its simplicity is remarkable. Just taking some straight pieces of fabric, sewn to a wide cylindrical tube, with the top edge gathered to a waistband, is all it needs. The waist can be an elastic waistband, a drawstring waistband, a plain fitted waistband or sewn to a bodice to form a dress.

Existing since the 15th century, this skirt was worn by common women for centuries as everyday skirt because it is easy and cheap to make.

Skirt Types

There are three main types of fitting the width of the skirt to the waist.

Gathered Skirt

The fabric is gathered at the waist to form small irregular gathers. This style adds some volume to the skirt at the waist.

Pleated Skirt

It has several pleats equally distributed around the waist.

Folded Skirt

It has four deep folds, two in the front and two in the back, located where the cape hem meets the waist. It looks like an extension of the cape. Because of the flat front, this style makes the waist appear slimmer.