Sewing: Week Forty: Leather Trimmed Pencil Skirt
Leather trimmed pencil skirt for this fall inspired week forty of 52 weeks of sewing. This is a bit of a tricky tutorial mainly because it deals with leather. The thinner your leather the easier time you’ll have sewing; however, if you use thick leather the project will look stunning (it’ll just be hard to sew).
Okay, let’s get started!
What You Need
- 1 yard of stretch knit
- 2 pieces of leather (16.5 x 2.5 inches)
- waist measurement in 3 inch elastic
- serger
- machine
- matching thread
- pins
- rotary cutter
- cutting mat
- iron
First, gather your fabric. For this leather trimmed pencil skirt I used real leather in a neutral brown shade.
Next, cut our your leather. Now, be careful on this part, since real leather doesn’t stretch much at all and it’s going to fall just above your knees. Thus, it might be hard to walk in if you don’t measure correctly. You’ll first want to measure how much room you’ll need to take a decent step; for me, 32 inches wide was enough.
Cut out all of your pieces. You’ll want two band pieces that measure your waist divided by 2, minus 1 by 6.5 inches. Then, two body pieces that measure the band measurement by 17 inches (mine flairs out by 2 inches at the bottom). Then, the leather – mine is 16.5 x 2.5 inches.
Let’s work on the band first. Serge the elastic waistband together, ensuring it’s snug around your waist. With right sides together, serge the band pieces together. Then, right side out, cover the elastic with the band fabric. Serge.
Now, serge, with right sides together, the body of the skirt. Then, attach the waist band (again, right sides together).
Attach the leather the same way. I’ll admit, I’m nervous to use my serger and leather, so I opted to use my machine. Just a lot more fine control.
That’s it! Done.
How polished does that look? The skirt looks great on, too. Pair with high boots and a white tank and you’re all set.
Happy sewing – and thanks for stopping by!
