[Brenda]

Hi,
After admiring and purchasing the ‘Extra Sharp Pencil Skirt’ I was determined to follow every step and make myself a properly finished garment with interfacing, invisible zip etc.

After diligently following all the steps I tried on my finished skirt and I was disappointed. I made some adjustments to the side panels/seams as suggested to try taper the skirt but it didn’t really work without major alterations to the side panel which I didn’t want to do as that defeats the purpose of the pattern.

When I try on the skirt it sticks out at the front and back, like an A-line skirt but from the side. Sorry, I don’t have photos as I’ve loaned the skirt to someone else to try on.

I’m determined to get this skirt to work for me so just want to see if anyone else had/has this issue and how you fixed it. After multiple online and offline searches my initial thoughts are that I possibly need to make a smaller size but probably add both a Full Tum & Full Bum adjustment, or is their a simpler fix that I haven’t considered?

Thanks in advance for your help
Brenda.

[Liesl Gibson]

Hi Brenda, It’s difficult to give advice without being able to see the skirt on you, but one big advantage of this style is that you can adjust the seams, as you mentioned. If you feel that you need more or less room in a certain area, simply move your pins to “let in” or “let out”. Once you’ve gotten a fit you like, those changes can be transferred to the fabric/pattern itself. To keep the side panel the same, shift the changes into the front and back pieces as needed. I hope that helps!

[Brenda]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. I’ve managed to get hold of the skirt again and taken some photos. I’ve added 3 here but if you need more let me know.

7 – Skirt Side – Side view showing A-line issue. I’ve already tapered both seams on the side panels starting at 15″ down from the waist from 0.5″ to 1″ at the hem. The A-line was much more pronounced with the smaller seam to the hem.

8 – Skirt Side – If I lift the side panels the front and back of the skirt fall into a more vertical alignment.

9 – Pinned and Lifted – Taking out 2″ from the circumference(1″ each side) and lifting the side seams makes the shape and fit of the skirt much better.

Looking at the last photo I probably need to make a Full Tum Adjustment as that’s where the lines show when I lift the skirt indicating that I need more length over my belly.

Does that sound reasonable or am I missing a very simple straightforward fix?

I hadn’t realised how useful photos were going to be for my own fitting, something to remember in the future !!!

All the best
Brenda.

Attachments:

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   7-Skirt-Side.jpg
   

2. 

   8-Skirt-Side-Lifted-rotated.jpg
   

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   9-Skirt-Side-Lifted-and-2in-pinned-out-at-seam-rotated.jpg