Wardrobe Staples: Classic Flared Pencil Skirt

My wardrobe went through significant downsizing as we moved across the world in a couple suitcases, and as I was heading into a few months of vacation, the first thing to go was purely office-appropriate attire. Now that I'm probably soon going to have to make a comeback into the working environment, I'm slowly building these pieces back into my closet (here's another recent example). .. But still avoiding anything that's only for the office.

Tutorials take a lot of time & effort to create, and I choose to make mine available for free. If you enjoy this guide, you can support me with a donation that feels right for you, here.

TOOLS:

Firm fabric, like a thicker cotton or cotton-wool blend, 2 m  |  Pins  |  Thread, needle & sewing machine  |  Fabric marker  |  15-cm invisible zipper  |  Scissors  |  Measurement tape

I. Cut two identical pieces for the skirt, based on these measurement guides (if your fabric gives a lot, you can do only 2 added cm for seam allowances for the width.

II. Pin one side together, right sides facing, and sew a straight stitch down.

III. Prep your invisible zipper by ironing the curve of the teeth open on low heat. On the open side of the skirt, pin the zipper in place so it starts about 2 cm down from the top of the skirt. Sew with your invisible zipper foot (or regular zipper foot) right in the crease next to the zipper teeth. Here's more detail if you need it.

Once done with the zipper, complete the side seam all the way down.

IV. To finish the waistline, just fold the edge next to the zipper, and then make a 1-cm fold to the top edge, press, and fold again. You can machine-stitch your fold in place, but if you don't want the stitches visible on the right side, hand-stitching is the way to go.

V. Back to the leftover fabric. Fold it in half to prepare to cut out the piece for the flared hem. To mark the piece, measure the circumference of your hem on the skirt piece. Take that number and insert it into this calculator, into the waist measurement field, making sure you've selected the half skirt option (the length selected doesn't matter). The app will give you the radius of the quarter-circle you'll draw from the corner of your folded fabric. In my case, my hem measured 90 cm, which gives me a radius of 27 cm. Once done, draw a second quarter-circle however far from your first line you want your flared piece's length to be. Mine was 35 cm. Cut the piece out.

VI. Complete the circle you cut out by pinning the edges together, right sides facing, sewing a straight stitch, and pressing the seam open. Then just pin the flared piece to the skirt, right sides facing, and sew all around to attach these two together. The final step is to hem the skirt - I zig-zagged the edge and folded it once, hand-stitching to finish.

xo,

Julia