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Making a Skirt from the 229 Sailor Pants: Part 2

April 25, 2024

African American woman standing looking down wearing a long denim sailor skirt with a sleeveless white blouse with greenery in the background.

By Esi Hutchinson

Ahoy! Welcome to Part 2 of making the 229 Sailor Pants into a Sailor Skirt (find the pattern here or the PDF if you want it sooner). And learn about how I started hacking this pattern into a skirt, read Making a Skirt from the 229 Sailor Pants: Part 1. Plus, if you need any other tips on adjustments or making the 229 Sailor Pants in general refer to these blog posts. Fitting Adjustments and 229 Sew Along. In this short blog post I will show you how I finished the Skirt.

This pattern suggests to use medium to heavy weight woven fabrics such as wool melton, denim, twill, cotton duck, linen, flannel, light to medium weight canvas. (Check out our fabric selection here). I used medium weight denim for this skirt.

Since there are just a few lining pieces (and they are fairly small), I would suggest using some scrap fabric if you don't mind the linings not matching your outer fabric. A lighter weight fabric can be used for the lining pieces, such as poplin, broadcloth, silk habotai, or even muslin. I used a fun poplin with an insect print for my lining pieces (pockets and waistband curtain pieces).

To make the pants into a skirt, use the instructions given for 229 Sailor Pants except for when you sew the crotch seam in the front and back of course. But, there are a few other steps mostly covered in the previous post.

I started by sewing my darts in the back.

two darts drawn in black marker on the wrong side of denim fabric, on a green cutting mat.

Then with right sides together, I matched the notches at Center Front of the skirt and stitched from the top edge to the bottom edge of the skirt. I finished the seams and pressed them open.

Right sides together center front seam of long skirt is pinned on a green cutting mat.

I didn't use the back gusset, so I made the waistband and waistband curtain long enough to fit the circumference of the skirt waistline (from center front to center back, cutting 2 of each).

I continued using instructions to assemble the coin and welt pockets, waistband pieces, buttonhole facings, and front dart gusset. If you are using the back gusset with eyelets, of course, you should follow the instructions given in the pattern.

Since I added a slit in the back, I stitched the center back together (including the waistband and waistband curtain) to the dot where I wanted my slit to start. I finished the raw edges like so, and folded the waistband curtain down over the waistband.

Waistband curtain in botanical blue and orange fabric is sewn right sides together.

right side of waistband curtain in botanical blue and orange print in pressed to the inside over the outer waistband.

Back seam sewn together to slit dot with two darts on either side of the center back seam line.

To finish the slit, I clipped the seam to the dot on each side.

clipped denim fabric on either side of the dot for the back slit.

I folded under 1/4" (6mm) and then 1/2" (13mm) on either side of the slit. Note that when I modified this pattern to make the skirt, I added an extra 1/4" (6mm) to the skirt for this vent slit.

folded 1/4"/6mm to the wrong side of the denim fabric on a grey background.

Pinned folded 1/2"/13mm to the wrong side of the denim fabric for the back slit on a grey background.

I then topstitched close to the folded edge up from one side, across where the slit starts and backdown to the other side. I also added topstitching where I wanted it to be on my skirt (mostly everywhere the pattern suggests having topstitching).

reinforced stitching on the top of the slit on the right side of the denim skit.

stitched slit in the center back of the long denim sailor skirt.

I then hemmed the skirt folding under 1/2" (13mm) then 1" (2.5cm), and topstitched close to the folded edge. I sewed the buttonholes, added the buttons and I was finished!

buttonholes made on the front bib of the denim skirt

Voila! Here is the Sailor Skirt!

I love this idea, and the fact you basically get to use the same instructions is great. You can make the skirt any length with any of the suggested fabric options. It's a versatile skirt in my opinion -- dress it up or dress it casually, this pattern is awesome! Please show us what you make from this pattern whether it's the skirt or the pants, we would love to see it!

Smiling African American woman standing wearing a long denim sailor skirt with a sleeveless white blouse in front of a grey wall outside.
Showing off here with the 203 Edwardian Underthings camisole pattern!