Sewing Missoni

Haberman's Selection of Missoni Knits

What's more fun than Missoni fabric? With it's signature zig-zag pattern and old world craftsmanship, it is in the forefront  modern fashion.  A friend of mine loved the fabric, so I suggested that we make a super-cute, ultra-feminine pencil skirt with it.  It was a perfect opportunity for me to get acquainted with this interesting chrochet knit and share my experience.

Pink Selvage and Yellow Selvage
on opposite ends of fabric

Let's talk about the skirt design first.  This is just a simple pencil skirt, or "tube" with an elastic waistband. Notice the beautiful fushia selvage edge.  We wanted to take advantage of that pop of color, so we used that as the hem.  How easy is that...no hemming! Each selvage edge of this fabric is a different color. To have one continuous color for the entire hem, this skirt required 1 1/4 yards (circumference of hem).  You could use one selvage color for the front and the other color for the back to conserve fabric. This would require only 5/8 yard.

Courtney looking lovely, as usual, in her new Missoni skirt

This loosely-woven wool knit is a bit unstable, porous and "spongy", which presented some unique challenges. Once I finally had the guts to cut into this beautiful fabric, the fabric pieces became slightly misshapen.  It was then that I decided to underline this skirt.  A slinky polyester knit was perfect for the underlining to "re-shape" my cut fabric pieces, to add stability, and for extra coverage.

It took some extra time to perfectly match chevron lines, but it was well worth the effort as the seams are totally camouflaged due to the unique texture of the fabric.  I would recommend making the effort to match the lines - you'll be so proud of yourself!


The last step: waistband. Because this fabric is somewhat bulky I put four small darts (two in front, two in the back) in the waist for a nice fitted waistline. Clip those darts 2" down from the top and press open to eliminate bulk.   Make your casing, feed elastic through (I used 1" elastic), close it up, then your done!

What a nice and easy bold look!