In my case, a high-waisted, chocolate-brown pencil skirt. This is Butterick 5249, and it is my third recent attempt at a pencil skirt but only the first one that I'll wear out of the house.
The last two pencil skirts that I made were too big, and you think that I could just take them in, but the hips, waist and back fit fine. The part that was too big was in the front, right across my hip bones. I tried looking this fitting problem up, and all I found were alterations for a full stomach. Which I don't have. I'm actually pretty flat. Or maybe the part of the skirt where my thighs started was too small and the excess of fabric was created by the skirt having to rise up to accommodate my reportedly massive legs. (I don't think they're particularly huge, but I've heard "Oh, you've got thighs," one too many times over the last couple of months, and I'm starting to get a complex.) So, I decided to mix things up and change the style of pencil skirt I've been attempting from one where the front is one piece cut on the fold, to princess seams. I also cut out the pattern in a size 18 to start with and fit the pattern before I cut into the fabric.
But as in most of my projects, this didn't quite go as planned because when I pin-fitted the pattern, I didn't line up the center front properly and ended up cutting out the fabric in a size that was slightly larger than the 18. But when I basted it together to check the fit, it was falling off me. Luckily, even though the skirt has princess seams in both the front and the back, these pattern pieces and stitching lines are the same for every size, so the only difference between the sizes is the side seams, and I started there when I took it in. I suspect that this pattern has a lot of built-in ease because after my adjustments, I ended up with a skirt somewhere in between a size 14 and 16 even though my measurements of the largest part of my lower half put me directly between a 16 and an 18 per the pattern sizing. I also used the princess seams in the front to take out the fullness in the front. I didn't attach the belt carriers, but I'm considering it. And I also used Rigilene boning at the seams of the facing to support the high waist, and that worked really well. I sit at a desk for most of the day at work, and the waist didn't collapse at all.
There seems to be some rippling in the back. I swear that I don't see it when I look in the mirror, but the next time I make this skirt, I'll pay a little more attention. (Also, I don't know what that light spot is to the left of the zipper, but that's also not on the actual skirt.)
Overall, I really love this pattern. It's easy to make with straightforward instructions, although I don't remember looking at them very much. I used the instructions for inserting a zipper with a facing from The Complete Book of Sewing Shortcuts (which I love, even if it's misnamed and doesn't have color pictures), and rather than finish the facing by turning and stitching the bottom, I used some leftover bias tape I had from edging kitchen towels. I think this helps keep the boning from digging in. I used a stretch twill I picked up at Fabric Depot last summer (woo hoo! stash usage!) that's very comfortable and a good weight for all but our hottest and coldest days here in Portland, so I foresee this skirt getting a lot of wear in the future.
Oh, and I seriously need to find a better place to take pictures. Or start sewing with lighter fabric, because you can't see anything in these pictures except for how frizzy my hair is.
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