Lesson 4: Pencil Skirt Sewing and Fitting.

This is the finished basic pencil skirt. It's very basic but with your new pattern you have made you can now create some of your own designs . I will be making some designs from my pattern soon.

 Hello readers!

I hope if you made your pattern it went well but you won't know that until you fit your skirt . I  have to warn you that if you didn't see my revision to the pattern to make the kick pleat vent on your pattern wider then you should do that now before you cut out your fabric. I originally told you to make your kick pleat 1 inch wider than your seam but now I realize now that is too narrow for the flap so you can revise your pattern to make your kick pleat 3 inches wider instead. You may have to tape some paper onto your pattern if you already cut it out. Sorry about that! I'm not a terribly detail oriented person and one look in my closet will tell you that so I probably have no business writing an incredibly detailed tutorial like this...

Sewing your skirt.

1. Baste your darts and your side seams. Baste your back center seam from the bottom up until your zipper notch. Try it on. If it fits then great! But mine was a little too big in the waist and I wanted to taper it more on the bottom .
2. If you want to refit it, turn your skirt inside out. Pin the zipper opening closed . Pin your side seams or darts where they need to be taken in or let out.
3. Mark your skirt at the new adjustments and transfer those adjustments to your paper pattern.
4. Sew your new side seams or darts . If it fitted then you should sew over your basting. 
5. Sew your kick pleat or vent. Actually after doing research this is a vent , not a true kick pleat. Here is an awesome tutorial from Burdastyle on sewing one.
6. Sew a grosgrain ribbon waist facing. It's very simple . You just fold the ribbon under at the center back zipper at the seam allowance line. Don't extend the ribbon onto the seam allowance or it will be too bulky and get mixed up in your zipper. then sew it down on the seam allowance just next to the fold. When you get to the end fold it under at the seam allowance fold again. Now fold over your ribbon to the inside of your skirt and stitch the facing down by machine or by hand with a catchstitch if you don't want the stitching to show through on the right side.



The grosgrain facing wasn't on yet. I sewed it out of order but had to redo it.

7. Sew a lapped zipper. This is way to complicated for me to explain so here is a video tutorial on sewing one also on Burdastyle. Part 1 and Part 2.
8. Done!
9. If you made one take a photo and come back tomorrow to post it on my Sew Chic Saturday Link Up!