Skirt tutorial!

When I posted some pictures of my blue skirt on the We Sew Retro Facebook group, some commenters asked about the pattern... 

I usually mention that my clothes are self-drafted but I forgot to add that this time. Of course, like all full skirts, half-circle skirts are easy to draft. And splitting the skirt pattern into gores and adding a pocket aren't exactly rocket science either.

The starting point for this skirt is simple (and very similar to drafting a circle skirt). You only need one measurement: the waist (with any ease you may want added to it. If you want your skirt to sit below the natural waist, use the measurement of that point on your body. Just keep in mind that a straight waistband might not work so well in that case).
To find the radius of your half circle, use this formula: (waist measurement x 2): 6.28
It's the formula you use to calculate a circle skirt, times two. Use this number to draw the waistline of your skirt.
Measure from the waistline down to determine the length of the skirt

If, like me, you have used the corner of a piece of paper as your starting point, you now have a pattern which will give you a custom-sized half circle skirt if you cut it on the fold and add seam allowance at the open edge. 
I usually don't cut skirts like this in one piece, it's not very economical. I normally split the pattern in half and cut one half on the fold and the other half in the other direction along the selvedge (which gives me a skirt with sides seams and a center back seam). 
Using this fabric, I had the nap to think of though (and piecing skirts which are segments of circles changes the grainline which influences the drape of the skirt) so I halved those to pieces again.
Four pattern pieces, for a skirt made up of eight gores.

And then, there is the pocket. Adding pockets to a gored skirt is simple: Just take one of the gores (which now becomes the side front) and draw a line where you want the top of the pocket to be. I like to place it at an angle. Also determine how deep you want the pocket to be and draw its bottom edge.

To make the fold-back flap, first draw it in where you want it to be in the finished product (the blue lines). Then, mirror it over the pocket top edge.

If you have done this, you just have to cut the pieces correctly: You should end up with a top piece/back of the pocket (top of the gore, down to the bottom edge of the inside of the pocket, to be cut from your fashion fabric), a bottom piece with flap (lower part of the skirt with what will become the underside of the pocket flap, fashion fabric) and a piece for the inside of the pocket and the flap (I usually split this piece. I cut the flap and a little bit more from the fashion fabric and interface that. The rest of the inside of the pocket is cut from a lining material) 

When sewing the skirt, you will have to decide whether or not you want to sew the flap into the seams (I did this on the front seams). In that case, you only have to sew the bottom edges of the flaps. If you want free-hanging corners, you also have to sew to side. Sew it to the exact point where the flap ends and clip the seam allowances to that point. That will allow you to turn the flap right-side-out while still having normal sides for your skirt seam.

And of course, you will need to finish the waistline. For a skirt which is worn at the natural waist, I like a straight waistband of about 4 cm high. If you want to wear the skirt lower, that might not work so well. In that case, you could also finish the top edge with a binding or make a shaped waistband.

I hope this description helps if you want to make a skirt like this. As usual, if you have any questions, just ask (just remember to give me a way to reply to you directly or you'll have to check the comments to this post regularly) and if you make something using this tutorial, I'd love to see the result! 

Typical

Sometimes, there is really no reason to try and be original. It can be very nice to just make something which is very typical for an era in fashion that you like or even for your own 'signature look'.

I think this skirt is like that. The shape, a half circle, would not have looked out of place in the early 1950's (when high fabric cost kept hems in everyday life narrower than you'd expect by looking at the couture creations of the time). The pockets, with their folded-back flaps suit that style too. 

And personally, I've always loved half-circle skirts. Nicely full but more economical and a lot more practical than their full-circle relatives. For example, riding a bicycle in a half-circle skirt is fine.

The only special thing about this skirt has to be the fabric: A mid-weight, fairly stiff corduroy in a lovely sky-blue colour. Although the pile of this particular corduroy is really low, I treated it as a "fabric with nap" anyway. I cut the skirt in eight gores which were all cut out of the fabric in the same direction. Of course, this way to cut the skirt also made this pocket design possible. 

There is not much more to say about it really... It's a fun skirt which will work well with lots of different tops. 

The Mermaid

And here is that skirt I promised in the previous post:

It's a proper mermaid skirt! 

It has been a loooong time since I tried this look but this particular fabric, a beefy, polyester/wool/viscose/lycra ponte knit, was just asking for it! 

It drafted as a six panel skirt but I added a center back seam for fabric economy. I started out with the same shaping on all the panels (just more flare and a bit more length towards the back) but ended up taking it in at the side waist and at all the back leg seams between hip and knee. 

This skirt actually tapers significantly towards the knee and only flares out from there. I would never do this in a woven fabric but this is a knit, it has stretch so something approaching a true "Morticia"-look is possible.

Drafting a pattern like this is fairly simple. I didn't use any instructions (I know how to do stuff like this by now) but you could try out different ways of drafting a skirt like this using this tutorial from Studio Faro.

Because of the fabric, I didn't even have to put in a zipper. I drafted the skirt to extend to about 4 cm above the waist and sewed 4 cm wide elastic to the top seam allowance, creating a nice, snug internal waistband (which I can still get over my hip because it stretches...)

I haven't really worn the skirt yet but I when I tried it on with this tweed jacket which I made many years ago, I just loved the look! 

(in fact, it really reminds me of an Azzedine Alaia design of which there is a picture in that nice big book from the Kyoto Fashion Institute... I just don't own the book and can't find that picture online right now. Of course, the designer outfit is much more extreme, but my stuff kind of looks like a wearable light-version of the same idea...)

Skirt and top

And here's the skirt from yesterday's last picture:

I made this to kind of get away from all the trouble with that 1930's dress. I bought three meters of this wrinkled cotton blend recently. I loved the colour and hopes the wrinkle effect would wash out (in which case I would probably have bought more). It didn't wash out so that rather limited my options.

The one I went for was very simple: A simple but big gathered skirt (my apologies for the quality of the pictures, I was back to using the self-timer again). There are three full widths of 140 cm wide fabric in there. And I put in-seam pockets at the side/front seams.
Of course if would look quite impressive over a big petticoat but I like to be able to wear even full skirts on their own as well. With gathered skirts, that often makes me worry about having the hemline kind of curve in past the hips. In this case, I tried something new to deal with that:I sewed an 8 cm strip of thick-ish flannel to the hem allowance and then hemmed the skirt using the sewing machine's blind hem stitch. 

When wearing the skirt, the effect is subtle, but it is certainly there.

And then, I obviously needed a nice top to go with the skirt... It's a very simple tried-and-tested shape with cut-on cap sleeves. I just gave it a new touch by inserting a strip of contrasting fabric under the neck band. At first, I wanted to make it like a kind of second neckband but at the last moment, I decided to keep the center front in the dark blue. I like the effect, like a stylized collar.

This weekend, I should really go ahead and unpick the side seams on that 1930's dress but I am really glad I made this outfit. It's a lot of fun to wear.

Man and skirt

Can you think of a more awkward pairing of words in a blog title? 
If you have any inclination to dress the average bloke in a non-bifurcated garment, you had better avoid the s-word. 
In association, skirts are for women and girls. And even though there's no problem with women wearing trousers in this day and age, men willing to try out skirts are very few and far between. Especially if you keep talking about skirts...

Every now and then, some fashion designer has a go at the man-skirt. Vivianne Westwood and Jean-Paul Gaultier were the best-known trailblazers here but they weren't alone (this article on Modemuze, in English this time, tells more on that topic). This year (in the collections for A/W 2015/2016 to be precise) it's Givenchy and Dries van Noten who try it (images from vogue.co.uk).

And are they even really trying? Both collections exclusively layer their "skirts" over trousers. Givenchy's narrow buttoned skirts end up looking more like insanely long and fitting shirt tails and Van Noten's wrap looks aren't trying much harder. Surely a true skirt is a garment in its own right and negates the need for trousers? 

There were and are, of course, many skirt-like or skirted garments for men in the traditional costume of countries all over the world. Garments which have long traditions and are often only worn in just that way by men (even when the garments for men and women are basically similar in shape, there will be clearly defined differences. For example in the proportions and belting of kimono's for men and women or the material, colour and style of wrapping of sarongs). You'd have to be a very stupid tourist to call items like that skirts or dresses...
For me, in the Netherlands, the best known and geographically closest example of such a garment is the kilt. And I would guess that might be the best-known example for most of you. 

The kilt is an unquestionably masculine garment with many devotees, not just in Scotland. Any quick google search will give you lots of pictures and lots of instructions for sewing a kilt (for general information on the subject, this site is a great starting point). 
If you've seen the episode in the last season of Great British Sewing Bee in which they had to make kilts, you may remember how the very nature of the kilt (made, as it is, from an uncut piece of, usually tartan, cloth) makes it nearly impossible to a woman's body. In fact, although you can buy lots of kilt-inspired women's skirts they are never constructed like true kilts. 

I think we all know kilts are not skirts. This traditional Scottish garment is, at least in common romantic fantasy, imbued with the raw masculine power of Europe's last noble savages: The Highlanders. 
And it is interesting to see how versatile it can be. It can be worn in a very civilized way by male members of the British royal family to show their connection with Scotland but is equally at home as a symbol of non-conformism in the punk scene...
But of course, the real home of the kilt is in Scotland. I've spent enough time there to know that kilts are no longer every-day wear for the vast majority of men. However, lots of real Scots do still own a kilt and wear it for special occasions. And, based on what I've seen, they get to wear them enough to know how to move in such a garment.

Last year, when E and I were on holiday in Scotland, I insisted he would at least try on a kilt. Of course, I knew there's a vast difference between a real made-to-measure 100% wool kilt and the kilt-derived items sold to tourists. 
But E had never tried anything of the sort. And he never gets cold and easily feels overheated. So, lots of wool didn't sound appealing to him.
Towards the end of our time in Scotland, he relented and tried on a better quality tourist version in Edinburgh. That taught us a few things: 1. A waistband at the natural waist really doesn't suit him 2. You really can't just get a kilt. The accessories, sporran, long socks, are an essential part of the look 3. Proportions vary, in men too. This is why proper kilts are made-to-measure and we couldn't get this one to sit right on E 4. E is really not used to the dynamics of a vaguely skirt-like garment.

And yet, he came to the conclusion that it might be nice to have a casual kilt-inspired garment in a light fabric. Just something to wear at home in summer instead of bermuda length shorts. 
And that's what I've made for him this weekend.

I started out by drafting a normal straight skirt sloper and made a toile of that to determine the waistline for the eh... kilt-inspired garment. 
Fitting it was kind funny. E immediately complained about the restrictive nature of the straight skirt shape. In fact, he said it was too tight at the lower hip. It wasn't. He's just used to being able to do things like squatting down or standing with his legs further apart than hip width ;)

Based on the sloper and the result of the fitting, I made a very simple garment, meeting his requirements and loosely inspired on the kilt. 
The rise is much lower than on the waist-high traditional kilts (not a unique feature, there are modern kilt makers who go for a fit like that and so do makers of casual kilt-like garments). To suit E's body shape, I even made to rise higher at the back than at the front. 
The main thing that really makes this not a kilt is that it doesn't have pleats. At all. It wraps pretty much like a kilt, with an overlap of most of the entire front but the room for movement comes from a modest A-line shape. All I did was take the slight curve from the "waist"line down and draw lengthen it in a straight line. Of course this won't make the thing move like a real kilt but it did deal with all of the issues E had with the sloper while still giving a masculine silhouette. 

For the closure, I used three buttons: one on the edge of underlying part of the wrap and two which meet the edge of the overlapping part. 
And to reinforce the kilt effect, I cut, folded at sewed the fabric on the edge of the overlapping front part to show off the selvedge (of course I know the frayed edge a real kilt would have there is not the selvedge but a purpose-made bit of frayed fabric but this cotton-linen material can't really be frayed in such an appealing way and the selvedge does sort-of look the part). 

All in all, we are both happy with the result. I don't expect E will ever wear this outside but he was OK with me taking pictures and blogging about it. As long as I don't call it a skirt ;)
I kind of want to make him a more sophisticated version, maybe with pleats. And/or pockets. Just in case he might ever consider wearing a kilt-inspired garment out of the comfort of our own home...

Grrrr....

I hate it when this happens. Yes, I know I'm showing you a ugly picture, taken with the aid of a cell phone picture and a dirty mirror but it makes the point.

This is my lovely new orange skirt. Ever since I made it, I've loved the look, the fit everything (except the slightly restricting hemline).
Yesterday, I washed it. I was a bit alarmed when I took it out of the washing machine and hung it on the line to dry. The lining was longer than the skirt. I reassured myself that some fabrics behave weirdly when they're wet. Surely, drying and ironing would fix this?

I ironed the skirt this morning. That helped a bit but, as you can see, not enough. It shrunk. Mostly in length although I think it got a bit tighter as well.

And this time I really think it shouldn't have happened. Three years ago, when I had just bought this fabric, I made a cute little skirt without pre-treating it in any way (I know many of you may pre-wash all fabrics but my pattern making teacher always taught me it's unnecessary for most and sometimes even causes grain line problems). It was lovely but it shrunk to an unwearable degree in its first laundry cycle. 
So, when I made this new orange skirt, I took care to pre-wash the fabric. Twice, at 40 degrees, knowing that I wash normal clothes a 30. And then, I made my new skirt. That should have worked but it didn't.

It's not even the first time this has happened to me this year (although it has hardly ever happened before. Only with two pieces of jersey which hadn't been washed before). My self-drafted green crepe 1930's style dress underwent the same fate....
That fabric was pre-treated as well, but shrunk anyway. About equally in length and width, in that case. I can still get into it but it's snug now. It should still be wearable if I re-set the zipper (which now has a strange bulge because it didn't shrink).  
I hated that little incident because this was one of my 'holy grail' fabrics and I had agonized endlessly over what to make of it. On the other hand, it was less bad because despite all the hard work, I never really loved that dress and didn't wear it a lot. I regret to say this about such a lovely fabric but this dress won't really be missed.
That's why I despise the fate of my skirt even more. This was a much cheaper fabric and a quicker make but I loved that skirt. I kept thinking of new combinations to wear it in. It was all set to be one of my most eye-catching and hard-working separates. 
I haven't decided what to do now. The skirt is still on my ironing board in the sewing room, mocking me. I could just hem that lining a bit shorter, the zipper doesn't look bad and the fit is a bit more snug but not really anything to worry about... BUT this was made to be my perfect-fitting narrow skirt and I loved it as such. I don't think I want an OK parody of it. I think I still have enough fabric left to make it again. I could do that and have it dry-cleaned in the future... 

That skirt with the stick-out pockets

In the comments to yesterday's post, a couple of people asked for a picture of the pattern pieces of the skirt of my orange dress. I decided to go one step further and tried to draw it out (again being reminded of what a frustrating program Illustrator is...). 

Please bear in mind that this is not a full-on tutorial. I have included an order of construction but I didn't take any pictures of the sewing. It's not really a difficult thing to make but it includes some tricky bits. Not for beginners, I would say

All the pattern pieces in these pictures are without seam allowance. It's important to remember that.

As mentioned, the skirt has no side seams, that seemed with nicest option because it was clear from the picture that those pockets curved around the wearer's side. So, you start by placing the front and back of your skirt block with their sides together. And because this skirt closes with buttons down the front, add 2 cm along center front.

Then, you draw in the design. I've used red for the alterations on the skirt itself and blue for the other pieces. 

I took 1.5 cm from the back dart at converted that to shaping of the center back seam. I knew from my recent re-drafting of my skirt sloper that this suits my figure really well, you don't have to do this. If you don't, simply follow the next steps using the full back dart. If your sloper has two back darts (and you really need them because the combined width is more than 5 cm) I would recommend keeping one in the back skirt.

Draw in the top of the pocket. Mine is 5 cm below the waistline, starts at the front dart position and extends into the back for a bit less of that width. The pocket edges follow the angle of the darts.

Draw in the back of the pocket (the blue line). These are two pieces, with their top edges following the other side of each dart.

The pocket lining follows the bottom line of the backs but its top copies the top of the pocket on the skirt. It looks a bit odd in this drawing but those two lines at the top should get seam allowance added to them to either side and they are essential when sewing this pocket.

And finally, you make the front pleat by adding width (about 14 cm in total) at 4 cm from the front edge (which is 2 cm from center front).

I didn't draw out the pocket flap but that's simply a semi-circular piece with its top as long as the top edge of the pocket.

When sewing the pockets, start by making the flaps. 

Then, stay-stitch the corners of the skirt pockets at the stitching line. Place the flaps (wrong side of flap to right side of skirt) so that they reach exactly from corner to corner (on those stitching lines) and sandwich the pocket lining (right side to right side of skirt) over the pocket flap. It is best to sew with the skirt on top, so you can follow the stay-stitching lines. 

After sewing, clip the seam allowances on skirt and pocket lining to the corners and turn the lining to the inside. Press and understitch (don't topstitch).

Sew the seam on the pocket back. Pin and sew pocket back to pocket lining. In those vertical-ish bits at the top (right down to the corner), this new line of stitching should be exactly on top of the line of stitching which attached the pocket lining to the skirt. 

And that's your stick-out pocket!

Skirt and bolero

And here are the skirt and bolero I mentioned earlier!

The bolero was just a quick fix, a tried-and-tested (and self-drafted) pattern made up in that same tweed-y grey mystery knit which I've used for my experimental dress and E's cardigan. I've made it twice before: The first one was a real wardrobe staple so when, after years of service, the cuffs started to fray, I made another one. That one was made from a viscose knit which was had been on the same sale as this grey stuff. It was very nice to wear but, unfortunately, also extremely fragile. Any snag would tear a whole into it. That bolero didn't survive for more than a couple of days. So, now I have this one.

It's a very simple pattern: Just one pattern piece plus cuffs and that long binding along the edge. It takes just minutes to make on the overlocker/serger.

The skirt took a bit longer. Sleek pencil skirts are great, but only if they fit well. And the more sewing experience you get, the more critical you will become. In this case, I decided to re-work my skirt sloper because I thought it was responsible for some of my issues for a former favorite skirt. Turns out that it was. For some reason, I had never made a test version of that sloper with a zipper... So I had never been able to see an issue at the back: Apparently, I have a bit of a saggy behind... Or at least, the maximum fullness there is at the height of the lower hip while in the standard shape assumed by drafting system, it starts higher up. This is why I always have to lengthen the darts half-way through construction when I'm using this shape... 
And in my trouser sloper, I made an adjustment for this lack of volume at the top of the bottom years ago
To put it simply: I kind of knew, so what took me so long to fix it?

Anyway, I did so now and I made a skirt. 
The skirt is made from some I-can't-believe-it's-not-wool orange fabric from my stash. The seller was sure it was cotton and it shrunk like old-fashioned twill weave cotton when washed. It has a twill weave and a slightly plush texture and a very intense orange colour. It's also rather thick.
Because of that, I didn't want to make a kick pleat at the back, which is usually my preferred way of adding a bit of leg-room to a narrow skirt. I'm not a huge fan of vents and slits (basically, I think only vents with a considerable overlap look good and then I would still have quite a pile of fabric at center back). 
Instead, I took a clue from my vintage patterns: Just about every vintage pattern for a pencil skirt in my collection doesn't actually have straight sides. Let alone tapered ones. The vast majority of narrow skirts from the late 1940's and 1950's actually has a slight A-line. Usually, a back pleat is still added to allow for ease of movement, but still.

In this case, I went with just the slight A-line. For walking, I thought it was OK, but you never really know until you go outside in it. It forces me to take slightly shorter steps, but it's not a real problem. 
I'm still happy I didn't make it wider though. Now, it looks really sleek. A couple more centimeters at the hemline and the A-line effect would have been more obvious. 

To make the skirt a bit more interesting, I added pockets at the front. I considered single welts but ended up making patch pockets without topstitching (tutorial for those is here). 
Oh, and obviously it is lined.

I suppose I've become a bit addicted to bright skirts over the past few years... At least I'm happy to add this one to my wardrobe. 

1957(ish)!

Well, thanks to the vagaries of Dutch winter weather (not cold at the moment but windy rainy and generally rather glum) it took me a while to get pictures of this outfit. On the other hand, I was lucky that E has taken this week off work and didn't mind being forced into the role of photographer on Tuesday morning. 

This is my 1957 outfit, made using a tutorial for the skirt and belt from the issue nr. 4 of Libelle magazine from 1957.

The whole look is based on this picture, from the mailorder pattern section from nr. 5 from the same year. I tried to get a picture in a similar pose but that proved really difficult. I didn't have anything with the right height to lean on so it felt really awkward. Looking at the my attempts when sorting the pictures for this post just made me feel scruffy and waistless... 

To complete the look, I obviously needed a blouse pattern. One from the same year would have been ideal but my collection didn't provide one. 

This little number (on the right), however, is from sewing magazine Marion from 1955. From the March issue. It shares a lot of the characteristics of the blouse in the picture: kimono sleeves (at least at the front. The Marion blouse has set-in back sleeves), no button band and less-than-full-length sleeves with turn-back cuffs. I chose not to mind about the fact that it has tucks at the waist instead of darts but of course, I did feel the need to alter the collar. I kept the original neckline and button positions (those three are the only buttons at the front of this blouse. Obviously it was meant to be only ever worn tucked into a high waistband) and drafted a very simple convertible collar to use instead of the stander and mini-size rounded collar the pattern came with. 

Skirt and belt were made following the tutorial but adapted to my waist size and didn't really cause any surprises (and I've made my own, more detailed, tutorial for this belt in the previous post). It was a bit of a shame the instructions didn't bother with enforcing a particular skirt length. That would have been interesting. On the other hand, I've read enough 1950's (and 1940's and probably from earlier times as well) fashion news to know that a truly stylish lady defines her skirt length by the distance from the hem to the ground. Measured while wearing the appropriate shoes for that outfit, of course. 

I was pleasantly surprised with the blouse. I've tried Marion patterns twice before and both of those times, I was rather underwhelmed with the result (a dress and a coat which didn't get beyond the muslin stage). I guess this teaches me not to go for the size 36. That may be very close to my bust measurement, it's considered to be a 'transitional' size, a point between the sizes for girls and women and apparently, that means a seriously shorter back waist length. Part of the difference will also be down to rather simple matters: for a blouse like this, the fit has to be right through the shoulders and bust, the rest doesn't matter as much. For the coat, it was mostly the lack of shaping at the waist and flare of the skirt that disappointed me. Oh, and in this case, the picture from the magazine was definitely not what drew me to this pattern.   

For the purpose of the Vintage Pattern Pledge, I'm counting this outfit as two patterns, because it is. 

New skirt - with no-zip trick!

This is another garment which had to wait till the weekend to get a photoshoot (now with more bookshelves! And granny's sewing machine and some of my vintage magazines. That's what the thick book in my hands is: half a year of Libelle from 1956)  The pictures E takes just always end up looking a lot nicer than the self timer ones.
It's a very simple skirt which I've wanted to make for a while. Fairly full and long and made from a denim-like fabric (coarse cotton thread in off-white and indigo but in a plain rather than a twill weave).
I was afraid that 'just' a half-circle skirt might be a bit boring though. And I knew I wanted pockets, but not the stick-out ones of my pink skirt because with those, you can't really wear anything over your skirt.
After some brainstorming, I came up with something. Something which also eliminated the need for a zipper (I have set so many zippers, I never worry about them but it's just nice to do things differently now and then) and gave the skirt some extra fullness.

The pockets are simple and have nothing to do with the new detail: Something between slash and scoop, made without topstitching. 

The more unusual bit are those two big pleats at the front. With the buttons at the top. 

These pleats can be unbuttoned to allow me to get in and out of the skirt. 

I sewed small snaps on the underlaps to keep those from shifting around.

To make this, you simply cut the front pattern piece for a half circle (or otherwise flared and it would actually work for straight skirts as well) skirt. You don't have to cut in the middle, like in this drawing. Just determine how wide you want the center bit of your skirt to be. I think I cut at two thirds (so, with two thirds of the waistline going to the side piece). Make sure you draw the line down in line with the nature of the skirt though. So straight down for a straight skirt and as a circle section of a skirt which has a shape based on a circle. 

Add the pleat halves to both pattern pieces (you could also add the entire pleat to one of them, but this way the seam will be deep inside the pleat, and mostly stay hidden). I added 8 cm to each piece at the waistline (if you're unsure, just do the math: You need at least enough extra width to make up the difference between you waist and hip measurement. Divide that by four to find how much to add to each pattern piece).
You can experiment with the shape of the pleat. Mine flares out a bit, like in the drawing, but you could keep it straight or even let the wide pleat at the top disappear into nothing at the hemline. The effect will, of course, be quite different. 
I cut these pieces separately and with the skirt length I picked, I had to. If your skirt is shorter and/or narrower you could cut the front as one piece (and if you don't add width at the bottom, I would recommend that because the seam would be really visible). I cut the pieces with the straight grain running the way it would have it were a normal half circle skirt. 
And I made the center panel higher, so I didn't have to add a waistband there. It's a nice look but it kind of screws up your normal waistline calculation. Fortunately, it's really easy to adjust the fit at the waist with this kind of closure. 
Anyway, you should add a waistband (either drawn on or separate) to the center piece and its half of the pleat and of course to the rest of the skirt but not to the half of the pleat connected to the side piece. This way, you reduce bulk. Narrowly hem that section. 
When your skirt is finished, try it on to see what you prefer: Sides over center or center over sides. Make buttonholes in the waistband of the piece you want on top and snaps or smaller buttons and buttonholes to keep the underlying bits in place (if necessary).

I really like my new skirt. It's fun, it's comfortable and the fairly stiff fabric really shows off the flare.