When I was in Australia last year, I found a pair of incredibly comfortable pants at a great little shop called Tantrika in Kuranda. They were basically pajamas: super wide leg woven fabric, with a long fold-over waistband. They are extremely comfortable and I love how they look, but I couldn’t shake the fact that they reminded me of pajamas. I could never wear them to work, and they are completely impractical for biking. I decided to take matters into my own hands and, using their basic design, construct a skirt. I picked up some fun fabrics in my favorite colors et voilà!

The comfiest skirt ever.

The first iteration needed a bit of help. The fabric I chose for the waistband had a lot of stretch and not much recovery. While the skirt stayed up, by the end of the day it had gotten incredibly baggy. I needed to decrease the circumference of the waistband — at least for this fabric.

For the second iteration I went a little nuts and re-drafted the pattern as culottes. I have a strange compulsion where I can’t stand not having fabric between my legs. This means I always wind up wearing leggings with skirts and dresses. Fortunately I live in San Francisco! But I wanted to construct something that would look like a skirt that I wouldn’t have to wear leggings with.

This one, with a narrower waistband, was much better in terms of bagginess. It still was a bit baggy by the end of the day. I might have to admit that this fabric isn’t doing the job I wanted it to! Still, it does hold the garment up, and that’s the point, right?

The third iteration was another skirt, but this time I added pockets. What good is a garment without pockets??

Here are some photos of the third skirt that will give you some idea of the construction of these skirts/culottes:

Pretty simple! All told, they only take about an hour to construct. The most annoying part is attaching the waistband to the skirt. I ended up settling on a technique where I pinned it in four equally spaced places, and then stretched the waistband to match the width of the skirt as I sewed.

I still have some more fabric that I bought for another pair of culottes. It’s lovely blue pinstriped linen, and a buttery bamboo rayon for the waistband. I’m hoping it’ll bag less than the cotton jersey I chose for the others!