Pencil Me In…Denim

153 days ago, I told you about my jones for a custom, pencil skirt made of denim.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so deadly serious about sewing something into existence. I learned how to draft a skirt block, rebooted my whole sewing process, and survived my first battle with topstitching thread to self-grant my wish.

And. It. Was. ALL. WORTH IT!

Custom-Drafted Denim Pencil Skirt

Draft Pick

Every bit of this road trip was worth the wait.

I even risked sitting wrinkles while waiting out the rain that tried to cancel my photoshoot. When your lipstick is like BOOM and you’re heels are like BAM and your skirt is like…BONJOUR!! there’s no weather forecast that can withstand that kind of readiness.

I’m not saying that my denim pencil skirt has the power to stop the rain or anything…

Denim pencil skirt, front view

…but I did bring it to life wielding a pencil and thimble. That’s all the proof I need that there may be a little magic in these hands.

The custom sewing e-course I took in October that rocked my bobbin-winding world, also infected me with a hearty passion for flat patterning. Before earning my Skirt Skills badge, I enjoyed hacking the style of a commercial pattern every now and then. I’d get a small thrill of vandalism and even a little pride out of being a silent co-designer when I drafted new lines on something ready-to-sew. Doing it from scratch though… is a whole other, lovely beast.

Crafting a garment pattern from top to bottom, deciding all the features, figuring out how to construct them, truing up all the lines, meticulously labeling all the pieces…all of this BEFORE I cut into any fabric. That. Is. WORK, y’all. Not sweat-generating work, but solid concentration of the lip-biting kind.

Denim Pencil Skirt Pattern Pieces

I had grand ideas for this skirt right out of the gate. I wanted to try out all kinds of drafting techniques, I wanted all the fancy seams and WOW factors I could get. I sketched and pinned like a fiend. Then, I remembered I was a student. A fresh and delicate newbie with all of the success-sensitive emotions that go along with it. And, newbies gotta slow their roll.

So, the second skirt made from my block would have three, simple design changes: a shaped waistband, a tapered hem, and a slit for walking ease. I’d never sewn or worn a well-fitting contoured waistband before. I’d never worn or sewn a tapered skirt, nor had I ever sewn a slit (or even a vent) into anything before. The whole experience was so new to me, I wondered if I should be designing diapers!

Denim Pencil Skirt, front view

I took my time through everything. The skirt drafting process had my right and left brain on fire. I loved it. Sorting out how to communicate to myself on my pattern pieces so I’d know what to do with them when it was time to cut was one of the most interesting parts of the experience. There are no seam allowances on my final pattern pieces so that I can mark stitchlines and cutlines directly onto my unfolded fabric. This means I have to remember to flip my pattern pieces over at the center front and center back “fold”. Instead of remembering to do it (which I didn’t a few times), I just noted it is as a flip instead of a fold. Clipping notches, drawing grainlines, including landmarks for the seamstress who’d be lost without them (me!) ….this is the work of pattern drafters I took for granted all these years.

And, now I’m doing it.

If they weren’t basted by hand before stitching…if the waistband facing wasn’t understitched with surgical accuracy…if my zipper wasn’t topstitched with ferocity…

…my seams would be bursting with pride.

Denim Pencil Skirt, side view

All About That Baste

The pre-construction phase was the most illuminating for me. I learned about hand-basted fittings in Brooks Ann’s course and used the method to try on my skirt for the first time after cutting it out.

When my pattern, my body, my fabric, and my preferences were introduced to each other during my basted-fitting, I was surprised to learn I needed 4 cm less circumference to get the snug fit I was after.

This meant my final pattern was tested and fitted for a bottom-weight twill fabric and if I wanted to sew it up in something different in the future -say, a wool suiting- I’d be better off drafting a new pencil skirt from my block and baste-fitting the suiting fabric skirt to see how it cooperated.

Hand-basted denim pencil skirt

A 4 cm reduction at the side seams was all I had to do to tweak the fit of my denim skirt and correct the paper pattern. Even though that tiny tweak surprised me (I wrongly assumed the stability of denim was similar to that of the muslin fabric I used to fit my skirt block), I am beyond ecstatic at a sewing future with little to no pattern alterations.

Fabulous Finish

When I was finally ready to sew permanent seams, I gave myself several more days of room to contemplate, sample sew, and finalize my construction methods and sequence. If I’d bought this skirt pattern, it would’ve come with all of those decisions made and illustrated for me. This custom skirt didn’t come with a manual.

I considered how to stabilize my waistband by examining the ready-to-wear jeans in my closet and by sewing samples. I figured out that my shaped waistband would be stable enough leveraging the untrimmed bottom seam allowance of the facing and the topstitching. I spent considerable time deciding whether or not to topstitch at all, ultimately choosing to go with topstitching, and then losing (and later finding) my mind over the act of topstitching. In hindsight…all good times I wouldn’t trade for a $500 skirt off the rack.

Back view, denim pencil skirt

On the subject of my backside (my daughter has named that part of anatomy the booty butt)…NEVER has it looked this good in a skirt before. The four darts shaping my hips are WERKING IT back there!

When I doubted for a moment whether or not I could get used to the small limitation in my walking range, my husband (who was a fan since the basted-fitting), instructed me to go look in the mirror again and said, “So WHAT you can’t take giant strides in it…Have you SEEN yourself in this skirt!!?” I spent some more time looking and loving my silhouette. After all, it had never been introduced to the world in its true form. I didn’t even know that walking in a tapered pencil skirt is SUPPOSED to involve some wiggle.

I am on board with my foxy ladyness now. Move over little black dress. The denim pencil skirt is here to challenge you to an LBD vs. DPS deathmatch for the Foxy Lady championship!

I am also a certified fan of simple seam finishes.

Insides. Denim Pencil Skirt

Not only did I keep the selvedge so I wouldn’t have to finish the center back seam, but I talked myself out of a hong kong finish and simply stitched and pinked the side seam allowances. The double fold, topstitched hem was a sweet finale to THE MOST satisfying make of my sewing career.

37 thoughts on “Pencil Me In…Denim

  1. GOLD STAR STUDENT! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the world! I can’t tell you how much it means to me to see your BEAUTIFUL work, to have been able to participate in your learning process, and to continue watch your sewing superpowers grow and grow with each new project. You are an absolute gem Najah and I can’t wait to keep working with you in future classes!

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    • A gold star from you, Brooks Ann feels like being knighted. I CAN-NOT wait for you to teach me how to transform my skirt block into pants this spring!

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  2. Congratulations. Painstaking work is its own reward, and that reward certainly shows here. BTW, in my day – ancient history – the “pencil” skirt was called the “hobble” skirt, for obvious reasons. Enjoy.

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    • Oh my, Amy!! HOBBLE skirt? That is so literal! If only we were that honest about our high heeled pumps and stilettos being HOBBLE shoes!

      Thank you for the comment. I am getting used to my reward coming at the end of the scenic route. I love the scenery, I guess ;-).

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  3. Gorgeous skirt and outstanding post! Full of good vibes and powerful feelings about making something and having it look THAT good! So refreshing. You just got a new reader 🙂

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    • Hi, Dona Sue. Knowing that my good vibes (created from sewing righteously) reached you through all the zeros and ones means the world to me! Thank you for reading…and staying.

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  4. the way you write this Najah, makes me realize I should feel much more proud of what I have sewn so far :-). thanks for that and I wish you much more of these wonderfull journeys in drafting and sewing!

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    • Wow, you’re welcome, I think…I want you to be proud of where you are / what you’ve sewn….but if my story makes you yearn to be PROUDER because you know you can take things to another level, then…yeah, my job is done.

      Thank you for your consistent encouragement and insight.

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  5. This is what sewing is all about. I commend you on the full out creative process! You and your work are beautiful and inspirational.

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  6. Great work Najah. …bet you will never go back to RTW skirts again now you’ve mastered this incredible skill of designing, fitting and sewing for you. Love it!

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    • You aren’t kidding, Deb! If my luggage was lost and I found myself naked in a foreign country….maybe then I’d buy a RTW skirt. Until, then..I’ll be putting my new skills to WERK!

      Thank you for the encouragement.

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  7. Great post – you put into words exactly how it feels to me to create a piece that is entirely your own. I love that feeling you get when you create something from start to finish – and great skirt by the way!

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    • Ha! Thanks SO MUCH, Ebi. Glad you popped by to check it out. I’m hoping the cool stuff we’ve been working on together will get me some tops to wear with it!

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  8. Pingback: May the Pants be with you | Wanna Be Sewing Something

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