Make a new skirt for work or school with Professor Pincushion’s easy knit pencil skirt instructions.
I’ll take you through the steps of simple pattern drafting and skirt assembly for something
that’s sure to become a wardrobe essential.
For supplies, you’ll need some knit fabric. The amount depends on the size and length
of your skirt, so take your pattern with you to the fabric store to get the exact amount
needed. You’ll also need one package of 1 ½” width soft elastic for the waistline
and thread. I’m using stretchable thread but if you don’t have this, you can also
use all purpose thread.
For tools, I’ll be using pattern paper, pencil, straight ruler, hip curve ruler, flexible
tape measure, scissors, straight pins, sewing gauge and sewing machine.
First, you’ll need to take a few measurements before we start our pattern. Use your flexible
tape measure and have a friend help you to get accurate measurements.
Decide where you want the top of the skirt to be and where the hemline should be. This
will be a our length measurement.
Measure around your body where you want the top of the skirt to be. We’ll call this
our waistline measurement.
Then measure around your body at the widest part of your hips. This is the hipline measurement.
Last, will be the hip depth measurement. This is the distance between waistline and hipline.
With your measurements in hand, lay out a large sheet of pattern paper. Take your length
measurement and add 1” to accommodate seam allowance and hem allowance. This total will
be the length of your first line.
Take your waist measurement and divide by 4. Take this number and add ½” for seam
allowance. At the top of the previous line, draw a perpendicular line for this length.
This will be our waistline.
Measure down from the waistline your hip depth measurement and make a mark on the skirt length
line.
Just like with the waist measurement, take your hip measurement, divide by 4 and then
add a ½” to this number. At the hip depth mark, draw another perpendicular line that’s
the length of your hip line formula total.
At the very bottom of the skirt, we need to draw the hemline. Take the result of your
hip line formula and minus 1”. That will be the length of your hemline.
Draw a straight line from the edge of the hip line to the edge of the hemline.
Lastly, we’ll connect our waistline to our hipline. I’m going to use my hip curve ruler
for this part just so I end up with more of a slight curve for the hip.
We don’t want any points at the hip, so smooth this out by blending the lines.
Here’s our finished pattern. On the length line, you can write cut on fold because this
is a skirt pattern that’s shown as half.
We’ll be using this pattern for the front and back of the skirt.
From your fabric cut out 2 pieces on the fold. The direction of the fabric with the greatest
stretch should be going around the body, so place your patterns accordingly.
Once you have two pieces, place them, right sides together, and pin the two side seams.
Sew a half inch seam on the side seams. I’m using a stretch needle and stretchable thread,
so I’m able to sew a straight stitch. If you use all-purpose thread, which doesn’t
have much stretch, you’ll want to sew a zig zag stitch instead.
Cut your soft elastic so it’s the length of your waistline. Pin the ends together.
Sew the elastic together at a ½” seam allowance and then finger press the seam open.
Pin one edge of the elastic to the top of the skirt, right sides together. I pinned
the side seams, center front, and center back first and then add pins in the middle to make
sure everything is even.
Sew a quarter inch at the top of the skirt. Again, use a zig zag stitch for all purpose
thread or a straight stitch for stretchable thread.
Turn the elastic to the inside and pin.
Sew the bottom of the elastic to the skirt, using the same rule, zig zag for all-purpose
thread, straight stitch for stretchable thread. Because the skirt is gradually getting wider
as we move towards the hip, if you need to slight stretch the elastic to fit the fabric,
you can do that. I’m sewing this looking at the right side of the skirt.
Lastly, at the hemline, measure up ½” to the wrong side, pin and press. Then sew it
in place at your sewing machine.
It’s amazing how quickly this skirt really comes together! And once you’ve perfected
your pattern, you can use it over and over again to create many versions of this skirt
using different knits. Let us know in the comments below what type of fall sewing you’re
looking forward to.
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