Wanna Be Sewing: Pencil Skirts

Later this week there’ll be more sewing soul contemplation. Today, I am taking you on a quick, mid-week scroll through my current fixation on pencil skirts. Specifically, denim ones. A custom-fit, deep indigo skirt, tapered at the knee. (1) Curve-hugging enough to distract my husband from a computer game, (2) conservative enough to run an all-day tech company meeting, and (3) durable enough for changing a flat tire on my pickup truck…or a small child covered in mud.

I want this skirt in my life so badly, I hired a couturier to teach me how to make one from scratch this fall. I’ll share more about that experience down the line. For now, let’s peak at a few of the high-end ready-to-wear skirts I’m inspired by and maybe even “pencil in” how they might look on me.

Starting with this simple one from Citizens of Humanity.

Citizens Of Humanity Denim Pencil Skirt

A high, contour waistband and a center front seam, this basic skirt is also showing some quiet rebellion with its boldly angled pockets. It’s like that front panel starts off wanting to be a middle gore in a three gore skirt, but then changes its mind when the center seam shows up, maps out a smooth exit, and juts off to the side seam in creative protest.

Story of my life.
Denim Pencil Skirt Design Inspiration 01

This Burberry beauty is a bit deceiving on the curve-hugging front because its made of stretch denim. But, those style lines are what caught my eye.

Burberry Brit Stretch-denim pencil skirt

A classic, sporty denim skirt with all of the expected features until your eye is lured down the thighs by a hypnotic pair of double-topstitched, flat-felled seams.

Yes and yes.

Denim Pencil Skirt Design Inspiration Sketch 02

Now, what about the collar-and-a-peplum-had-a-baby feature of this $500 Moschino skirt? Bringing that kind of attention to my waist might not be the best decision. Or, it could be the missing link.
Moschino Buttoned stretch-denim pencil skirt

As long as I never find myself transported to the 1980s where I might get the urge to “pop” the collar, the style might have a chance on me.

Denim Pencil Skirt Design Inspiration Sketch 03

Look out for more inspiration sketches on Instagram, the dumping ground for my design impulses. Seriously, though, I am physically restraining myself from sketching and sharing more right now. A sign that it’s time to head back to real life where our fingers are crossed that no truck tires or tiny muddy people need my help today.