My Henrietta skirt is a size M . I love that the Spaghetti Western Sewing size range has a medium as the average size of women in the United States, meaning a US size 16/18. The rest of the sizes are distributed across the size range around that size. How refreshing!!
The fabric I opted for is this textured organic cotton in navy from Stash, which worked out well. Enough drape for the skirt, but enough body that the gathers on the hip panniers don't totally collapse. It's a tiny bit sheer, so I'm wearing a slip with it, but no big deal.
The pattern says I would use 2 3/4 yds of 54 inch wide fabric, but in this 57 inch wide fabric I was able to get the skirt out of 2 yards by turning the upper hip yoke pieces on the cross grain.
This is actually my second Henrietta skirt- the first one I made I'm treating as a somewhat wearable muslin. I made it from some black and grey honeycomb-like fabric that I bought in Bangkok with no particular purpose in mind. I think it's cotton on the front maybe poly on the back? In any case it had, at least for me, too much body for the pattern. The sides of the skirt are comically voluminous!
Construction-wise, the Henrietta is a super quick sew. You "draft" some of the pattern pieces based on the instructions, but it's very simple, just rectangles. The curved pieces are provided. And it sews up very quickly.
The only changes I made were to use 1 3/4 in elastic instead of 1 1/2 inch, because that's what I had in my stash. I also took a deeper hem- probably 1 1/2 inches, as that's my preference.
I haven't decided yet, but I'm considering shortening the skirt a bit for a little more leg. TBD.
I know the Henrietta is based off of 18th century pannier skirts, but Robin and I discussed that it also has an '80s yoke skirt vibe. So when styling it, that's what I went with.
I paired it with the Love Number Sweater I knit earlier this year and it looks great! It also pairs well with my Spaghetti Western Sewing Ramona Blouse.... or just a t-shirt.
I tried to take golden hour photos a la Ambrosia, but I mostly look sickly and squinty with a garbage bin in the background.
