A high waist pencil skirt

I have a few pair of high-waist jeans, but my wardrobe was lacking a high-waist skirt for the office. McCall's 5590 turned out to be a great version: the waist is noticeably high, but not so high that it’s too avant garde for work or obviates the need for a bra. I made view A, the shortest version, with the tabs from skirt B. It wasn't as short as the pattern picture, though I suppose I’m considered petite at 5’4”.

I made this skirt with melton wool I bought from Ebay. It came up in a search for melton wool, and while I was wary of buying fabric online that I can’t return, it was so inexpensive that I went for it. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality; the wool even has a slight lanolin feel to it. The seller said it was a remnant from the Jones of New York line.

Using suggestions from Pattern Review, I sewed Rigilene boning into the side seams to ensure that the skirt’s waist maintained its structure. I was intimidated by Rigilene, but it was so easy to use! Per instructions online, I seared the edges (with a Yankee Candle!) to prevent the plastic “hair” from unravelling, and then stitched the Rigilene to the seams on the edges.

A seam allowance must be left on either end of the boning since it still has to be sewn to the lining and/or skirt body.

The major negative of this skirt is that it is unlined, which wasn’t going to work with a wool skirt. I made a lining by making the skirt in the lining material, including sewing the darts. I put the facing over the lining, marked it with tailors' chalk, and marked a seam allowance above the first chalked line. I cut off the lining at the seam allowance chalk line and sewed the lining to the facing. From there I followed the instructions for attaching the facing. The lining is a mystery polyester from the Paron's Annex bargain bin. It is a steel blue, but when I ironed it, it temporarily turned bright pink. I called it my "hypercolor" lining (remember those T-shirts from the 80's that would turn a different color with heat?)

Finally, the last Pattern Reviewer pointed out Two On Two Off's tutorial on how to attach facing/lining to an invisible zipper to avoid hand sewing the lining to the zipper. It worked perfectly! I'm so grateful for her detailed description of this method because it is such time saver, and the inside looks so much more professional than if it had been handstitched (by me, at least). 

I’ll probably make this skirt again in other colors. I would love to make this Stella McCartney version:

What a simple, but high impact, idea to put a row of thick lace around the waist. I like how the exposed zipper, which I’ve seen on a few high-end RTW garments lately, tempers the fanciness of the skirt.

Craft Stylish recently had a very helpful-looking tutorial on how to insert an exposed zipper.

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I didn't start any new projects this weekend, though I did a fun tour of the Boston apparel fabric stores yesterday. I’ll write a (warning: long and picture-heavy) post about them this week. Have a good Monday!