One thing about Nigerian traditional wears is that there's always a trending style at every point in time. What's peculiar about Nigerian fashion is how easy eurocentric styles are fused with African styles to give a perfect blend, thanks to our vibrant fabrics and prints. Corsets, thigh high slits, drum sleeves, puff sleeves and a lot more were all the rave last year and are still very much in style right now. I decided to try out a side thigh(not so high) slit on this blue print.
Here are a few photos on how I made it
I began by drafting and cutting the top pattern on the fabric. Then I ironed a fusible interfacing on the front and back pieces to give it some weight.
I drafted the skirt pieces adding two inches along the length of the front piece and the back piece.
For my front piece, on the left dart, I went 2 inches inward and made a slit from the top to bottom of the skirt. The initial 2 inches allowance now transferred to the slit. I interfaced my pieces with black lining fabric and then joined up to where I wanted my slit to end.
On the back piece I joined the two pieces on the 2 inches allowance at the middle.
Next, I joined the top pieces together at the shoulders.
I then attached the top and bottom at the waist line.
The zip was pinned to the zip allowance and sewed to a few inches above the hip line.
Using my basic sleeve pattern, I cut out a flute sleeve by extending the hem of the sleeve.
After attaching the sleeves,I used a bias to turn in the rough edges and did same for the joining at the waistline too.
Now that's how you make a side slit!
Thanks for reading!