You loved our transformation of the < slit > skirt pattern on social media, and a lot of you asked for a tutorial so you could recreate it at home.
To catch you up: here's the before/after of the pattern transformation we did. Basically, we took the < slit > skirt pattern and lengthened it into a maxi skirt that hits right at the ankle.
Sewing inspiration
We'd been wanting to sew ourselves a maxi skirt like the ones we kept seeing on recent fashion week runways — the kind that had been on our mind for a while. The catch? The skirts that inspired our maxi < slit > version cost between $850 and $2,250 (they're from Gucci, A.W.A.K.E Mode, Martine Rose, and Orseund Iris).
So yeah, we didn't hesitate long before getting on the machine !
For this new challenge, we decided to work from our < slit > skirt pattern — a midi skirt that's totally beginner-friendly and can be made in under half a day.
We sewed ours in a crisp, water-repellent black taffeta from a major French luxury house, which you can also get your hands on through the < slit > skirt's ready-to-sew kit. We fell hard for this technical fabric — it's incredibly soft against the skin and gives our skirt (a pretty classic cut on its own) a fun streetwear edge.
Of course, you can also sew your < slit > skirt in a different fabric by going with the sewing pattern sold on its own, in PDF or paper format.
Long story short : the idea was to sew a skirt worth around $950 for under $100, with almost zero environmental impact, since we didn't produce any new fabric. We simply bought this unused roll (which would've otherwise ended up in the trash) from a major fashion house.
You can absolutely push this challenge even further by using a cheaper fabric than ours and going with the standalone PDF pattern at $13. Go ahead, surprise us!
How to lengthen a slit skirt pattern
Sewing a slit already sounds intimidating. Modifying the pattern of a slit skirt ? Even more so. But here's the good news : slit or no slit, lengthening your < slit > skirt is honestly not complicated at all. Here's exactly how to do it.
1) Cut out your original sewing pattern
Cut out the different pattern pieces for the < slit > skirt and lay them out as shown on your cutting layout. Make sure to leave enough extra fabric at the bottom of your fabric length to lengthen the skirt: the < slit > skirt is originally a "midi" length, hitting mid-calf, and our pattern is drafted for a 5'5" (1.65m) height.
Still based on a 5'5" height, we added 10 inches (25cm) to get the maxi-length version of the < slit > skirt (hitting the ankle). That said, we'd recommend taking your own measurements first to make sure you get the exact final length you want.
2) Cut the 3 pattern pieces horizontally
Before pinning your pattern to the fabric, grab a pen and draw a horizontal line at the level of your slit: this will let us keep the shape of the slit on the maxi version, without touching the cutlines at the top of the slit or the bottom hem.
The slit will simply end up longer on the maxi version, starting from the exact same point as on the midi version, right below the seat (this skirt is called the < slit > skirt because of its signature, extra-long slit).
Carefully cut along these lines (shown here as dotted lines). Just make sure your cutting lines are perfectly horizontal, meaning perfectly perpendicular to the fabric grain. If you're not sure what grainline means in sewing, we break it down here.
3) Slide the bottom section of each piece down
Now simply slide the bottom section of each of these three pattern pieces down by 10 inches (25cm). Make sure these pieces stay perfectly aligned with the top pieces. Again, keep everything perpendicular to the grainline.
4) Pin the pattern pieces and redraw the lines
You can now pin your pattern pieces to your fabric. The goal here is to redraw the missing sections of the lines. For the center front line and the slit lines on the left and right back panels, simply connect the dots — these are straight lines.
For the side seam lines, you'll need to smooth things out a bit. To do this, we'd recommend connecting the bottom part of your pattern to the widest point at the hip (along the hip line).
If you just connect the two pattern pieces the same way you did for the straight lines, it'll create angles that don't exist on the original pattern.
5) Sew your maxi < slit > skirt
Your pattern is ready! You can now cut your fabric following the lines of your newly adjusted pattern. From there, just follow all the construction steps from your < slit > skirt's sewing guide, and you're done. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch all our sewing tutorials on video.
So, did you take on the challenge? Which version do you prefer?
