Pencil Refashion and Embellishing

It is time for some refashioning! I bought this skirt at DI for $4. My dress form was drowning in thick navy blue fabric. But you've got to LOVE the buttons and the lace up back. It is also vintage ralph lauren (well, maybe it was from the 90's, I have no idea, it is just in need of a makeover). So, I decided to make this a pencil skirt tutorial, which will also double as a pencil skirt embellishment tutorial.

First, put the skirt on inside out and pin it tight from the waist to the end of your rump and from there pin more out to make a pencil shape.. Then SEW along the pin line. Also, pin your hemming length, which is about an inch below the desired length

Cut the hem length and the excess fabric after it has been taken in. Optional: you can use a serger on the ends or a zig zag stitch to prevent fraying.

Iron down the trimmed fabric in different directions, then iron the salvage bottom in, then iron the bottom in one more time to conceal the nasty end. Pin and sew! I sewed two rows because I liked how it looked.

Optional: top stitch the thicker part of the waist band to make it more flat and secure.

PENCIL SKIRT IS DONE!

NOW ON TO THE EMBELLISHMENT

First draw two half circles, the smaller one being the exact length (following the dotted line, the exact line of the circle) of how big you want the ruffle to be from left to right. Then mark how long you want the ruffle (like mine was 3 inches from the smaller circle) to be measuring of from the smaller circle. Cut and hem!

Straighten the smaller circles, lay them on top of each other and this is what it will look like.

Pin to the center back of the dress and sew, sewing one after another.

1 ruffle

2 ruffle

3 ruffle

cut a strip of fabric, sew together and turn inside out. Pin right sides together aligning the top of the strip with the top of the ruffle. Sew, the turn strip up and sew the strip to the skirt.

Finished look!