Checked Pleated Skirt - Diagonal Bias Cut | Chastleton

A checked pleated skirt cut on the bias, so the check runs on the diagonal and meets in a chevron down the front.

Most checks are cut square. This one is turned forty five degrees, which is why the pattern reads as a lattice of diamonds rather than a grid, and why the two halves mirror each other down the centre front. The check itself is soft rather than sharp: wide camel squares crossed by broad chocolate bands with blurred edges, a fine cream hairline along each one, and a faint cross-hatch inside the pale squares. The cloth is fine, flat and matte, viscose-rich, with a dry handle and no sheen. It hangs and swings rather than holding a shape.

The fit

The waistband is narrow, flat and cut in the same cloth, and it sits at the natural waist. At the front it is fixed and fitted, with two deep pleats folded in below it, one on each side of the centre; across the back it is shirred on elastic, so there is give where you want it and a clean line where you can see it. A zip in the side seam does the fastening. From the waist the skirt opens out a long way: the maker measures the hem at just over three metres round, which is what gives it the swing. The length reads midi, low on the calf and clearly above the ankle, about 82 cm on an S rising to 85 cm on an XL. Sizes S to XL, UK 8 to 14. The waist figures in the size guide are taken flat, and the elasticated back gives above them, so they are a floor rather than a ceiling.

Details

• Large soft check on a camel ground, with chocolate bands and fine cream hairlines
• Cut on the bias, so the check runs diagonally and mirrors down the centre front
• Two deep pleats set into the front, one either side of the centre
• Narrow flat waistband at the natural waist, fitted at the front, shirred on elastic across the back
• Zip in the side seam
• Level hem with no slit; the maker measures the hem at 302 cm round on an S and 314 cm on an XL
• No pockets
• 91% viscose and 9% polyamide, as given by the maker, and lined in 100% polyester
• Length about 82 cm on an S, rising to about 85 cm on an XL, from the top of the waistband
• Gentle machine wash, darks and lights washed separately, and keep it out of prolonged direct sunlight

See the rest of the skirts.