Pencil skirt – For myself

I made something for myself. A pencil skirt. And one with a little bit of history. As you may remember, I took pattern drawing lessons. In the first year, we learned how to draw a tailored skirt. As soon as my basic pattern was finished, I started drawing this little skirt. A quick project: narrow the basic model at the bottom, and add a flat piece at a top to hide the darts. Easy peasy.

It took me almost 3 years. 3 years! For a simple skirt like this. All I added was some piping.

And lining.

The reason why I put this skirt aside the first time, was my pregnant belly. Since this skirt couldn’t really fit that belly, it ended up on the UFO stack. I would finish it when my body was ready.

In the meantime, the UFO stash got moved around the house a couple of times. Renovating means moving your stuff around a lot. (And also explains why you can see holes in the walls and electric cables hanging from the ceiling. We’re working on it). After a while, I wasn’t sure anymore whether I had ever seen that UFO stash. Was it a figment of my imagination? Did I have a blurry picture of it somewhere? Somewhere last summer, it showed up again. And my mind was set: I would finish that skirt.

Alas, it was too big. I had to alter the pattern. And recut the fabric. And the lining. And where did I put that piping? And the blind zipper?

To cut a long story short, the thing spent another 6 months on my sewing table. Until I got the best present ever on Christmas day. Time! The whole house was napping, no family visits planned, and who does his household on Christmas day? Sewing time it was!

And would you look at that. It fits.

Even better, thanks to the tailoring it clings nicely to my hollow back. Which means I can squat without showing my you-know-what to the whole world. Eureka!

The lining that I added is not very visible. I think the colour isn’t bright enough.

I’ve also wondered whether I should have embroidered something on it, to break the vast dark surface.

I finished the split with a ‘fly’ (sorry, no idea what that’s called in English). It prevents your split ripping. It was the first time that I used this technique, I definitely need to practice.

Reinforcing the split was needed, since pencil skirts tend to limit your movements. Which can get tricky when cycling or climbing stairs.

Talking about flies, another tip: say you’re annoyed by all the flies hanging around your house in summer. And say you decide to hang up one of those old-fashioned fly catchers, the sticky kind. Make sure you don’t hang it in the sun. Nor above your sewing stash. Since the glue melts in the sun. And glue drips. And leaves ugly stains. And glue isn’t that easy to wash out…

So should you know the ultimate tip on how to remove glue stains, please share. If not, I’ll turn it into a trend, spots like this…