Sewing: Week Twenty Five 30 Minute Pencil Skirt

30 minute pencil skirt for week 25 of 52 weeks of sewing. Now, I know I’ve done a lot of skirts and that’s probably because I wear them all the time; however, the fabric is what makes the skirt and this navy and white striped fabric just makes this skirt pop. Not to mention it puts my patience to the test matching up all of those stripes. Well worth the effort, though, since it the finished product is polished.

Okay – let’s get started!

What You Need

1 yard or so of fabric with stretch
scissors
coordinating thread
serger
3 inch elastic – enough to fit around your waist
pins – a lot of pins
machine (optional)

First, pick our your stretch fabric. If you’re using a fabric with white in it, like me, then be sure it’s thick enough so it’s not see-threw, otherwise, double up or make a slip (yuck!).

Cut

Time to cut it out. My skirt, the body, measures 19 inches long and 15 inches across at the hips – then tapers in to 13.5 inches at the top. Cut two.

The waistband is 7 inches long and 13.5 inches wide. Cut two.

Stretch the 3 inch elastic around your waist and cut where it’s comfortable – snug, but not tight.

Sew

Time to sew the body of the skirt together. With right sides together match up all the stripes. Pin – and keep pinning. This will take about 7 extra minutes, yet it’s worth it.

See how nice the sides look? Whoo hoo!

Waistband

Now, serge the waistband together.

Time for the waistband. With your elastic you can use your serger if you like, and I’ve done this in the past, yet I found on a few other projects that the waistband gets a bit thick, so I opted to use my machine. This way I only have 2 layers of elastic and not 3 (when the serged edge is folded over you get 3 layers of elastic). Either way, stitch the elastic together.