This is the story of a skirt I made for work that I can’t wear to work.
“What a lovely and interesting pencil skirt!” I thought in April when the Burda issue came. “Just right for the office. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a cool stripe fabric that might work.”
I had a work meeting in Toronto, after which I went to Queen West and found a very cool watercolour-style linen-spandex stripe in orange, green and yellow. Perfect!
Made a test version in a heavier stretch-cotton just to see how it worked. Good thing, as I initially made the front band (under the slit) about half as wide as it was supposed to be, and holy cow was that version indecent.
Phew! Crisis averted. (cue foreboding music)
Cut out and sewed up the stripey version. Tried it on. Fantastic! The stripes are going in the right directions; it mostly fits, though next time I would make it higher in the waist as it’s too low and low-waisted skirts always want to ride up on me to my actual waist. Also a bit loose for such a light-weight and stretchy fabric. If you make this up (and you should! but not for the office) a non-stretchy fabric will work just fine. What with that slit you will not need stretch.
Got dressed one morning for work. Walked to the kitchen for breakfast.
Holy crap.
That slit opens up all the way to the top, eh? At every step.
Put some emergency stitches in to hold it a bit more closed. Went to work.
Stitches popped out.
Faced awkward conundrum of either acting like I meant to flash the office all day and just owning it, or holding it closed with one hand if I needed to walk anywhere. Very professional.
It’s a great pattern, a fun skirt, definitely different from the usual and if you can find a good stripe to make it up in, well worth the effort. Runs a bit loose so recommend doing flat-pattern measurements to make sure it’ll be snug enough to stay put.
However.
Don’t wear it to the office.
Date night? Dinner? Dancing? Sure. Absolutely.
But unless you’re aiming for a very special kind of promotion, if you get my drift, not for work.
Zoopolis 
“But unless you’re aiming for a very special kind of promotion, if you get my drift, not for work.”
LMAO!!!! I loved this pattern when I saw it but could just see my extra-muscular quads making an escape. It’s cute though! And your fabric is so summery 🙂
Thanks. 🙂 It’s definitely cute and summery … and maybe a smidge more scandalous than I intended. 😉
Ohh la la! Love the look but awkward at work. Hopefully you had a couple of safety pins in your purse.
Nope. I thought the stitches had me covered. Alas.
When I was about 5 our local john lewis had a massive fabric and haberdashery with these abstract type mannequins the fabrics would be artfully draped on to make “garments.” I always wondered what those “people” did and went dressed like that and wondered if I could be like that when I grew up. I used to practice the poses and everything.
For some reason, your skirt story really reminds me of that….! Tis a gorgeous skirt though. Maybe some sort of lace/stretch skirt underneath so it looks like it was supposed to be like that, totally intentional design feature.
Thanks. 🙂 A modesty panel isn’t a terrible idea. I’ll give it some thought.
Yow! I hope the skirt gets some wear dancing because it’s very cool in addition to being breezy in the left thigh area. 🙂
Thank you. 🙂 Breezy’s a good word. It’s well-ventilated. That’s how I’ll describe it the next time I go out dancing in it.
oooh lovely choice of fabric colouring. It does fantastically with your hair and skin, I have this pattern and was debating making it up but, yeah, don’t want that much on show while I’m walking.
Please update if you go with a modesty panel and how it works. I love the idea of this skirt but not the practicality.
Practical is certainly not the first word I would use to describe it.
Thanks. 🙂
Gorgeous skirt! I ditto the modesty panel idea, and have fun dancing in it!!
Thank you! It certainly allows for a lot of movement.
Beautiful! Perfect for dancing!
Thanks!
I trace my Burda patterns onto non-iron on interfacing. Makes it easy to do a paper pattern fit & basic alterations. I thought this skirt would be good for cycling in to work. Making this pattern, the paper fit showed the slit was too revealing, so I increased the band width by half again. Modesty restored. I also inserted a concealed pocket for my office keys below the yoke on the narrow side.
Yeah this is definitely one time a muslin would have been helpful. Oh well.
The pocket idea is very clever. I may steal it if I make this one again.
Beautiful skirt designs. Andrea very nice