Almost a Sari Skirt

My parents recently visited India and my Mom brought back this lovely semi-sheer fabric that was finished at both ends. I declared it must be a sari ( which literally means strip of cloth ) but, a sari can be from four to nine yards long and this piece was too small.

The actual size of this fabric strip was 38" wide by 89" long which could work for a long skirt. However working with the print was a little challenging.  If the stripes went horizontal the skirt would     not be long enough so the stripes had to go vertical. 
           In the picture the fabric is folded in two with the white weights on the finished ends. I cut through the fold parallel to the finished ends so the fabric was now in two pieces; a front and back.

I didn't want to lose the stripes that ran the length of the fabric on the front and back so I used a French seam for the side seam without trimming much fabric away.

This picture is of the finished side seam with the front and back stripe joined in the middle. 

Since the bottom edge of the skirt was already finished the side seams were the only seams. 

Since the fabric was semi-sheer I purchased lining and decided to also use the lining to create the casing for the elastic at the waist. Two side seams and a rolled hem and the lining was finished.

 I went with the current trend of a short lining under a long sheer skirt.

The width of the lining was smaller than the width of the skirt ( but still plenty large enough to fit over hips ) so I slightly gathered the skirt to fit the lining. I matched the wrong side of the lining to the right side of the skirt and stitched them together. I used 1/4" seam allowance because I needed all the length of the skirt.

The lining was turned to the inside of the skirt and I edgestitched through the skirt and the lining at the top. The edgestitching reinforced the tiny seam and will keep the lining in place.

Next a parallel line of stitching the width of the elastic ( 1/2" ) and the casing for the elastic was done.

The  29" length of elastic was inserted into the approximately 70" length of casing and the elastic ends were sewn together. I manipulated the gathering of fabric on the elastic so 4" at the front and back of each side was flat. 

The flat ( not gathered ) fabric over the hips is very slimming.

A line of vertical stitching 4" from the side seam in each front and back insures that the gathered fabric cannot travel into the flat area over the hips. 

And the almost sari skirt was finished.

And while a real sari can be draped and worn more than 80 different ways;
creating one lovely skirt for one of my lovely daughters is a lovely compromise.