Self Drafted Pencil Skirt

Well i was up at 6:30 this morning so i could go to the opticians in Telford, my plan was to cycle up there, about 10 miles. Then spend the rest of the day shopping or sunbathing in the town park, maybe go and watch the Hunger Games. About 45 minutes before the appointment i thought that i was pushing it with time so i would just take the bus. Apparently there is no bus running in the morning on Saturdays. By the time i had found that out it was way to late to cycle up there. So i went back home to sulk, getting optician, doctor or dentist appointments around here is so hard. Then i thought i could catch the bus to Shrewsbury, hurried back out of the house, just in time to miss that bus too. So i am sulking now and posting about the skirt i made instead. I am still going to go to Shrewsbury, it is just i wont get there now until 1pm, what a waste of a morning!

I really have no curves, do i?

This material came from Oxfam for £1, it is a double layered knit polyester, i loved the geometric pattern on it. But it is taking up loads of room in the fabric draw, which is need for the more summery fabrics that i bought last weekend. 

I decided that now would be a really great time to make a skirt sloper to fit me, instead on relying on paper patterns. I trawled the Internet and did loads of reading on how to do this and settled on following the instructions given by a Burdastyle member: teresadouglas called making a skirt. This gives simple instructions on making a sloper. I then used my sloper pattern to make a pencil skirt. My original idea for this skirt was that it was supposed to be a A line skirt, but when laying out the fabric i realised that there would be enough for a pencil skirt as well. So i made the pencil skirt first as this is the simplest skirt that you can make from a sloper.

This skirt looks best side on, don't you agree?

It was so easy to do and fits perfectly. Though i found with my 32" waist and 37" hips, that i have no curves and really struggled to make the darts. In the end i made them by halving curves at the side seams.

To make a muslin i used some dark stripy wool in my stash, again in the attempt to make some more room in my fabric draw. The first muslin was too big, so i remeasured myself and cut the excess fabric from the first muslin. 

Second muslin.

Original Sloper.

My favorite part of the skirt is the vent at the back. I followed another tutorial for creating the vent, from another Burdastyle member: sunnilj9 called Adding a Back vent to the Jenny Skirt.

Vent in the back.

The hem is hand sewn. Usually when it come to the hem i in a hurry to get finished so just sew it up with the sewing machine, but this time i decided NO I am going to do it properly, and sat watching Mad Med last night while i hand stitched it. It looks so much better, defiantly going to keep doing this.

Next up an A line skirt in the same fabric. Then it can be worn whilst riding my bike.