Simplicity Pencil Skirt

I am a lover of pencil skirts.  I love wearing them, and enjoy making them almost as much!  They are the perfect project- they aren’t too hard to make and they don’t take too long, and because they take only a small amount of fabric, you can go all out if you want to. I made this one in the fall, and it has been one of my favorites for the winter- honestly, it is hands-down the best fitting skirt that I own!

Skirt Front

I chose this particular pattern, Simplicity 1559, because I liked that the skirt was designed without a separate waistband, making for a very clean front.  I also liked that it had front darts- I have a bit of a belly, and skirts purchased off of the rack typically have a large gap at the waistband if they fit everywhere else- I knew that the darts could fix this.

I did deviate from the pattern a little- rather than using a folded vent at the back, I simply added a slit.  The fabric was a bit thick, and I think that the four layers of fabric that would have been involved once the layers of the vent were folded back on themselves would have been a bit bulky.

Skirt Back

The skirt fabric is an Anna Sui acrylic tweed, from Mood Fabrics. I like it because it is very textural and just a tiny bit wooly—perfect for our San Francisco Bay Area not-too-cold winters. I lined it with a coordinating china silk, and added petersham  (I love perersham!) at the waist for some extra support.  I hemmed it by hand- I am not the most confident of my silk machine-sewing skills!

Silk lining

Petersham Waistband

 Although pencil skirts are pretty quick and easy, this one did take a little extra time.  To match the pattern at the seams, everything had to be hand-basted together first, but because the threads making the fabric are so thick, it was easy to line up the pattern and make sure it was perfect by making each stitch between the same threads. And I got lucky on the pattern scale- it was just the right size that I could match it up perfectly on both sides of the skirt and at the back seam!

Side seam- lots of basting to get it to line up correctly!

Now that summer has arrived in Northern California (or at least it seems that way!) I need to get started on a summer version!

Also, a big shout out to anyone attending Pattern Review Weekend at the end of the month- I will see you there!