February 17, 2011

stretchy knit pencil skirt


Super easy and comfy pencil skirt, made this one in 30 minutes! Perfect for you busy women!



Supplies:
knit or stretchy material (preferably thicker material)
sewing machine or needle and thread
thread
scissors
flexible measuring tape
fabric pen or marking chalk
iron
pins

Instructions:

*Note: if you are making it from non-stretchy material, you must install a zipper because it won't be able to slide on over your hips very easily.
1. Measure in inches your:
natural waist (make sure it can slip over your hips)
lower waist/or love handle area (not that anyone has them!)
hip/booty area
length of top of hips to bottom of hips
how tight you want it around your knees
length from natural waist to knees
2. Add an inch to your natural waist, lower waist, booty, knees measurements then divide by 2
EX. if you have a 28 inch waist + add 1 inch = 29 inches,
then divide by 2 = 14.5 inches
3. Take a piece of stretchy or non stretchy fabric fold in half - make sure that it is within the longest width and length of your pencil skirt's measurement.
4. take a fabric marker or pins and mark the center of the fabric when folded
- the first picture below is folded and marked down the middle!
5. Take all new measurements (EX. 14.5 inches) and center them evenly down the center of the folded fabric in their appropriate places - MARK!!! Just like the first picture shows! if you want to add a little bit extra just in case, that is wise because it can always be taken in! Make sure to account for the length of your hips and the length from your natural waist to the top of the hips. Tapper from the bottom of the hips to the knees.
6. At this point you cut on the marked lines and pin
7. SEW taking a 1/4 - 1/2 seam allowance in account!
8. If you want to add a zipper ( with most stretchy fabrics you don't have to!) then you can do so now!
9. Hem top and bottom by folding it over and sewing with zig zag stitch or straight stitch as long as you stretch it as you sew - but if you are using knit fabric it doesn't fray and you don't have to hem! yahoo!
10. IRON excess fabric from seam allowance down in opposite directions, so it leaves a very flat and clean line on the outside! This is very important, because it makes it look finished.



44 comments:

  1. You are too talented, it's not fair ;) Just kidding!! I love that color of the pencil skirt. Way too cute!!!

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  2. What did you do to finish the waistband area? Did you just fold it over?

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  3. YAY!! You're a genious!

    Women with tummy can't wear these though.
    Referring to me not you!!

    LOL

    :)

    Thanks for sharing!

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  4. CUTE skirt! I love the color and shape on you!

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  5. Ok. I am SO inspired! I will be whipping up skirts all weekend! Amazing!

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  6. thank you thank you!! i might take a nap..and then plan on busting out a couple of skirts!

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  7. lizzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!! wheres my pencil skirt!!!!!! lol

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  8. I am totally making this! I featured you on my blog www.fashiondiaryofamormongirl.blogspot.com :)

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  9. i bought stretchy dark denim over a year ago and didn't know what to do with it~ this is a perfect project for it, simple & chic! maybe i'll send you a pic when it's done. thank you! :)

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  10. where/how could i incorporate a zipper to this so i can use a non stretchy material. I am recently got a brand spankin new machine and i want to start by making something simple. But my BUTT is wide.. i have wide hips and a booty and i want to be able to have it modest still and not so clingy like a stretch fabric.

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  11. Its Black and White, here's a good tutorial for putting in zippers: http://whatthecraft.com/technique-tutorial-zippers-2/

    Hope that helps!

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  12. Lools great! I made a pencil skirt tutorial a couple of weeks ago using a pillowcase, but mine isn't quite as fitted.

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  13. A great skirt on a great figure! It just kills me that some women look so hot even after having kids and I have to work out and still I'm not as slender as you.

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  14. Hey! I work with the project sharing website instructables.com. This is an awesome fashion DIY tutorial! You should consider submitting it our BurdaStyle Fashion Challenge. We are giving away an amazing set of prizes and great opportunities to promote your blog!

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    If you decide to share your project on instructables.com I'll be sure to feature it on our site. Its super easy especially if you already have the project details worked out and instructables gets over 10 million unique visitors a month which could bring a lot of traffic to your site.

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  15. Thank you for the inspiration! I have just made three black skirts for my daughter for school uniform. She's difficult to shop for because she's so skinny. Nothing like custom made!

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  16. I used part of this great tutorial on my ruffle jean pencil skirt... Thanks so much!!! i am a new follower!

    http://tootsiewootsieboutique.blogspot.com/2011/07/ruffly-jean-pencil-skirt.html

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  17. Best skirt!
    I love the color and shape on you!
    Can you give different side of this.

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  18. Love it!
    I am so trying this :)

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  19. nice tuto! I've another way to make the same skirt but it's too complicated! your is better!
    xo

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  20. I've been looking for a good pencil skirt tutorial. Thank you so much! I have things planned for this one...

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  21. woah, you totally blew my mind today when I came across this! I had no idea it was this easy to make a pencil skirt! I feel like the fashion industry takes so much agency away from people, that it's nice ot take some back sometimes

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  22. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is magnificent blog. An excellent read. I'll certainly be back.
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  23. I just found this blog and have a question: This skirt requires no zipper or elastic. Correct?

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  24. I just made one in Red...I used a one way stretch fabric...which was perfect for my large hips...but had a little trouble with puckering...not bad enough to rip it out...but probably my lack of experience with tension and different materials. I added a 3 layer ruffle at the back...sooo cute.

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  25. love this tuturial...
    love love love...
    i witll try make one by myself!!
    thanks for share
    =)

    http://madebyheartbytb.blogspot.com

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  26. Great!!!
    I've always wanted to make a pencil skirt and this is perfect! Thanks SO much!

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  27. Wow.. you are soo talented.. Great!

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  28. I love this tutorial, but because my waist is much smaller than my hips/butt (11 inches less) when I put the skirt on I have to stretch the waist band so much that the switches all snap open. Anyone know if anything can be done to prevent this, different type of thread or something? Yes I have used a zig zag stitch, no I don't have an overlocker.

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  29. This is such a wonderful tutorial! Would you mind if I pinned it to Pinterest?

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  30. OMG! On the face in the third picture, you kind of look like Anna in Downton Abbey.

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  32. I have hips that are quite large compared to my waist. But I would really love to make a pencil skirt. Would you still reccoment this one or one with a zipper?

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    Replies
    1. hey - i have the same problem! and posted a question about this a while ago but no one seems to have a solution :( So I'd say you'd have to put a zip in or don't hem the top. The waist of the skirt will stretch over your hips but the problem I had was you had to stretch it so much that the top hem snapped.

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    2. My widest measure was double my waist and knees and I didn't have any problems with just sewing it up. I used a stretchy jeresy knit and it was fine.

      Delete
  33. Hey, this is an awesome post, and I love your blog! I can't wait to try this out. I've been wanting to make a pencil skirt but I'm not on friendly terms with patterns. I featured this on my blog, you can see it here: http://scissorsandsteam.blogspot.com/2012/08/pencil-skirts-and-painted-umbrellas.html

    Following! :)

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  34. I'm confused where to mark my fabric. I have my measurements but how do I know if marking my fabric at the appropriate spots? and How do you determine the distance between the waist-love handles-hip width?

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  35. I can't wait to make this! So cute!!

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  36. gorgeous color. i love pencil skirts though. they fit the body soo well:)


    http://girl-gulaabi.blogspot.in/

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  37. You lov-er-ly lady. Thank you soooo much for your time, effort and time you took to put this simply for a novice like me to understand. One of my friends has just asked me to make 2 pencil skirts for her and this is a really good and easy step by step instructions to follow. Hers are both cotton so I'm off to buy the necessaries. Again, thank you!!!

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  38. You lov-er-ly lady. Thank you soooo much for your time, effort and time you took to put this simply for a novice like me to understand. One of my friends has just asked me to make 2 pencil skirts for her and this is a really good and easy step by step instructions to follow. Hers are both cotton so I'm off to buy the necessaries. Again, thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete
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  40. Just made one yesterday and it was wonderful! Thank you for this! Pencil skirts never fit me and I was very pleased at how easy it was!

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