Make Something Every Month - March - Making a Pencil Skirt

Apologies for the delay in posting this, I intended to post it first thing, but we had the electricians in and the power off, so I wasn't able to go online until now.  For this March's make I was determined to get my dressmaking hat on, but didn't actually find the time until the very end of the month.  Sunday afternoon, with a clean house and our guests having departed, I ventured up to the sewing room and started work on one of the projects in my dressmaking 'to make' pile that I had collated the week before.

To keep it simple, I went for a straightforward pencil skirt without a waistband, that I could run up in a few hours.  It was a pattern that I hadn't used before and had bought at a local market whilst out and about this weekend.  It was similar to others I've made previously, so there wasn't really anything too difficult about it and as it was a Very Easy Vogue pattern it was simple and had clear instructions.  I picked a fabric from my 'to make' pile that I was going to use with a different but similar pattern, with a print that didn't need too much matching at the seams, and off I went.

This was the pattern which was a bit large, but I adjusted it accordingly to fit me

and this the fabric.

Initially, I cut out the pinned the pattern pieces for the skirt to the fabric and cut them out and then I put in the tailor's tacks, ready for sewing together the following day.

Monday afternoon I resumed work on it.  I sewed the double darts front and back, sewed up the back seam and put the zip in, stitched the front to the back at the side seams, attached the interfacing to the waist facing and attached it to the skirt, topstitching it to keep it in place.  Finally, I completed the back slit and hem by hand whilst watching TV later in the evening.  As I didn't have my over locker working to neaten the edges, it isn't as perfect as I would like, but I pinked the edges of the fabric to try to prevent them fraying and did the best job I could in the circumstances.  I am quite happy with the result.  I will definitely use this pattern again.

This type of skirt is really one of the simplest to make and I really enjoyed getting back into my dressmaking groove.  I already had the fabric, interfacing, zip and thread, none of which cost very much, so the only recent outlay was the pattern itself which cost £2.  The fabric wasn't the simplest to use, as it was synthetic and the edges frayed a bit, but I liked the print, it was incredibly inexpensive at something like £1.50 per metre and as it had a bit of weight to it, it wasn't too bad to handle.

Here's a picture of the finished result.  This is the front view (excuse the darts, I haven't properly ironed them),

and this is the back view.

As an added extra I added a Merchant and Mills 'Made in England' label.  I always think it makes for a much more professional looking finish! (Tongue firmly in cheek at this point).

I'm pretty happy with it and am looking forward to wearing it at some point in the very near future.  I'm also looking forward to my next dressmaking project now that I've recut my teeth on this one.  I'm hoping it won't be such a last minute dash as this one though.  Fingers crossed.