Channeling Chanel in a Handwoven Pleated Skirt
Designed and woven by Benjamin Krudwig
Chanel tweed—this iconic fabric rose to fame in the 1920s when Coco Chanel commissioned fabric from a Scottish textile manufacturer. She then used it in her line of jackets, blazers, and skirts. To this day, Chanel still uses these classic textiles in their collections.
When Anzula asked me to try out their new yarn Dottie, I wove some samples. The black tweedy flecks made a beautiful textured fabric that immediately reminded me of Chanel. With my love of fashion, and a desire to create garments that are beyond "loom-shaped," I decided to make a handwoven pleated skirt. While a Chanel-inspired jacket would have been fun, I wanted to create a project that even a beginner could handle!
The skirt is completely customizable as far as sizing and length goes. The pleats are approximately 3" wide, which meant I needed to weave 9" of fabric per pleat. (Of course this measurement shrinks a little after washing, but it gave me a good baseline.) Also, since I was set on using a small loom, my fabric was going to be woven in two panels, then seamed along one selvedge. My warp was about 15.5" wide, which after seaming and washing gave me about 28" of length. You can increase or decrease the weaving width to create the length of skirt you want. Calculate 9" of woven fabric for each 3" of the finished waist measurement.
Multiple yarns and colors in the warp and the weft make a visually interesting fabric, full of tonal depth and texture. The pleats themselves also create an exciting runway moment—since the interior color differs from the exterior color, gold peeks out from under the blue as the wearer walks. If I were sewing this skirt from commercial fabric, I’d have to piece it together from different colored strips. Handweaving let me weave the color into the fabric. I wove 3" of blue, then 6" of gold, using a template that sat along the outside edge of my weaving. I tracked the number of 9" sections so I could make two identical panels.
My sewing machine only came out for the asymmetrical hem: I ran a line of stitching around the bottom edge, cut the fabric about 1.5" below that line, and frayed the hem. I then hand-washed the skirt, laid it flat to dry, and pressed the pleats all the way down their length for a crisp finish.
Project Specs
Finished size: 28–30" waist circumference x 22–28" length
To customize the waist size, allow 9" of woven fabric per 3" of waist (before shrinkage). Be sure to replicate the stripes for each panel. To customize the length, take the total length (before shrinkage) and divide by two—this number is your weaving width.
Weave structure: plain weave
Number of warp ends: Dottie 104, Luster 52
Warp length: 7 yards
Width in reed: 15.5"
EPI: 10
PPI: 10
What You'll Need
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Warp yarn: 728 yards of Dottie in Echo, 364 yards of Luster in Nimbus.
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Weft yarn: 364 yards of Dottie in Echo, 484 yards of Dottie in Toffee, 242 yards of Luster in Toffee.
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20” Flip loom
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10 dent reed
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two 24” stick shuttles
Materials
Equipment
Directions
Warping
Set up for direct warping with a warping peg.
Warp the loom with 4 ends of Dottie in Echo, 2 ends of Luster in Nimbus repeated across the warp.
Weaving
Begin with 1.5" of Dottie in Echo for seam allowance.
Pleat repeat: Weave 3" of Dottie in Echo, then weave 6" in stripes: 4 picks of Dottie in Toffee and 2 picks of Luster in Toffee.
Repeat the pleats for about 90", then weave another 1.5" of Dottie in Echo for seam allowance.
Leave a 2"-4" gap in the warp and weave a second identical panel.
Finishing
Hand-sew the two panels together and create the pleats as described above—hand-sewing is preferable to machine-sewing here. Lay the short edges together, right sides facing, and sew a side seam by machine or by hand from the hem edge to about 4" below the waist edge (the opening should be as long or slightly longer than the hand-tacking on the pleats). Make a rope about 24" long for the closure and lace through each edge of the fabric above the side seam. Add tassels to each end of the rope. Optional: Machine-sew an asymmetrical hem line along one long edge of fabric; cut about 1.5" below the line and fray the edges. Hand-wash the fabric, allow to air dry, and press pleats with an iron on the wool setting to set the fold.
Video
Notes
About Anzula Luxury Fibers
Anzula is located in Downtown Fresno, California. We are passionate about good yarn and vibrant colors. Our team hand-dyes yarn and fibers made from the most luxurious fibers in the world like cashmere, camel, tussah silk, linen, merino, targhee, tencel, alpaca, yak, and milk protein. Our intense love of knitting, crocheting, weaving has lead us to create over 140 stunning colorways, all of which are available in every yarn base we offer.