Yes my Pencil Skirt Lining escaped from under my skirt!

How it all began…. Back in January I was given a sewing dare to make a pencil skirt.  I had chosen the red fabric as the fashion fabric and the print as the lining.

After doing a lot of research and searching for pencil skirt patterns online I decided to use the Pencil Skirt Pattern that came with the book “Gertie’s Blog for Better Sewing” that I had purchased when it first came out but hadn’t yet made anything from the book… not sure why I hadn’t though?

Once I traced my pattern pieces I made sure the fabric panel was centred perfectly on the fold before I pinned the centre front skirt pattern piece to ensure the panel was centred exactly in the front of the lining.

I was putting a great deal of effort into my lining even though no one was going to see it except me as I thought it was great practice for the fashion fabric (I was using my lining like a muslin to test the fit)  then I shared this picture on Facebook to show my friends the progress I was making with the skirt lining as I thought she looked quite cute….

Next thing I was getting comments like this:

Rob Eyre You can’t waste that on the inside, it’s beautiful.

Roni Davies Think I would be wearing it in inside out. That is really lovely.

and there were many more…. Then came a Twitter conversation with Catja aka Gjeometry …. which was the turning point for the lining… she was finally being set free to become a pencil skirt in her own right to be worn proudly on the outside.

Yeh one pencil skirt was now becoming two pencil skirts!

First off I went on a hunt shopping in my fabric stash to see what other lining options I had for lining and the red skirt.

I had some gorgeous soft pink bemberg lining which I thought would be great for the print as the print fabric is a rayon so this is now what she’s lined with.

Then I found a cute red and whit rayon print that went perfectly with the red fabric which is a faux silk chantung.  I actually think they’re a match made in heaven and make a great couple

I decided to make some changes to the waist band.  The initial band in Gertie’s book has a high waist and I didn’t want to add a high waist to this skirt so I drafted a new waistband and lined up the pattern from the boarder print of the fabric so it married up with the panel on the skirt with resulted in this.

Look at how perfect those lines marry up on the sides of the panel and waist band.

Luckily I took the time to line up the darts and centre the front panel when this fabric was initially intended for a lining… I still wanted it to be pretty on the inside even though I’d be the only one to see her.

Perfectly matched darts… so glad I put the extra effort in!

How good does that band look?  I hadn’t worn tops tucked in for a long but this band deserves to be shown off… plus now that my waistline is a little smaller than it use to be I don’t think I look too bad with the shirt tucked in…

With the zipper I used the technique where you baste the seam together where the zipper is going and then pin and sew the zipper in place and then unpick the basting stitches… I don’t think I’ll use this technique again as I much prefer wither using an invisible zipper or a lapped zipper technique… maybe I did something wrong when I sewed this as you can really notice the zipper.

I don’t think I’ll be trying this technique again as I tend to get better results…but never mind when I’m wearing my skirt I can’t see the back and if someone is looking at my rear end that closely I don’t think they had planned on checking out my zipper LOL.

Oh and have a look at that sneaky little lining taking a peak in the skirt split… mmm it probably wanted to be a skirt so it could see the light of day too… cheeky little thing. Might just have to put a couple of stitches there to keep it in it’s place on the inside

So here she is in full view… not a glamour shot as I have no make on and no hair done but hey… My first pencil skirt and my sewing dare accomplished and that’s all that counts!

Next project is to finish sewing my red pencil skirt… this time I’m going with the high waist and adding in some boning into the waistband.  I’ve already got some steel boning in my stash waiting to escape from the draw… so stay tuned and I’ll let you know how it goes and I’ll remember to take some progress pics so you can see how the boning looks and how it turns out.

Have you used boning in a high waisted pencil skirt or a waistband before?

If so be sure to let me know how it went and if you’ve got a link please feel free to share… as well as any tips would be greatly appreciated