Thursday 17 February 2022

Sabina Skirt - Free Sewing Pattern Review

Who doesn't love a freebie? Particularly if that freebie is a super detailed sewing pattern for a really pretty skirt! In case you haven't seen already, Rumana of The Little Pomegranate offers her blog subscribers the lovely Sabina skirt pattern for free - and I for one couldn't resist such a generous treat!


Sabina is a gathered skirt that sits on the waist, with an elasticated waistband and gentle shaping at the hips. It has roomy pockets and a pretty ruffle hem. 

It comes in sizes from waist 25"/hips 34.5" to waist 51.5"/hips 61".

This may be a free sewing pattern, but you wouldn't know that from the effort and attention to detail that have obviously gone into it. It's just as good as (if not better than!) many paid-for patterns. The instructions are excellent - they're really detailed, very clear and provide explanations of any sewing-specific terms along the way. 

I think it would probably be a really good pattern for beginners as long as you picked a stable fabric, as detailed in the fabric recommendations for the pattern. If you're more experienced, it's a nice simple pattern to sew and looks lovely in a drapey fabric.

The skirt is also really easy to fit. Basically, all you need to do is to make sure you cut the right length of elastic and you're pretty much sorted! On that note, I'd definitely recommend checking how much the elastic you're using stretches when you're cutting it to size - some definitely stretch more than others in my experience.

I made the size recommended for my measurements and it turned out nicely. I didn't make any alterations, so this is the length as it is in the pattern - for reference I'm about 5'9".

The fabric I used for my Sabina skirt is a pretty viscose from Like Sew Amazing - it's still in stock here, and the same print is also available in a teal colourway. It's a lovely drapey viscose, and works really well for this pattern. And happily the colours in the print go really nicely with the jumper that I'm wearing here that I knitted last year.

I'm really pleased with how my Sabina skirt turned out - it was fun to make, and it's lovely and swishy to wear. That did mean that it wasn't the easiest garment to take photos of on a breezy day, but that's not a major hardship! I can definitely see myself making more versions of Sabina in the future, and would heartily recommend giving it a try. A big thank you to Rumana for a lovely pattern!