Any sewing/ dressmaking type people who can give me some advice?

[robino]

I have an A-line denim skirt that I do not wear and I was about to get rid when I remembered I have just got my sticky mitts on my mum's sewing machine. Would I be able to convert it into a pencil skirt without too much fuss?

Can sew in a straight line and made half a t-shirt at school but am fairly practical when it comes to crafty stuff, am hoping to get to grips with it fairly soon and maybe make a few pinafore dresses for DD's and maybe some skirts for me.

This may not be the most professional way to do it, but assuming you are happy with the waist band and pockets I'd try the following:

Turn inside out.

Decide roughly where you want the new seams of the skirt to go - pin and then tack (big temporary stitches) which will let you try on the new shape and check it will fit. Adjust until you are happy.

Sew along the tacking stitches with the sewing machine - just a straight stitch. Lop off the excess material and then zigzag stitch over the raw edges to stop them fraying.

And voila.

You might need to put in a split at the back of the skirt to make it easier to walk. Assuming skirt has seam up the back, unpick the bottom 4 or so inches, resew the edges and reinforce the top of the spil with a triangle of stitching.

sorry - split not spil...

Thanks Pip. That's kind of what I was thinking of doing - good to hear that somebody who has more knowledge than me had a similar idea. Don't care about professional way of doing things as long as it looks ok from the outside

Let me know how it goes - I might get inspired myself .

Pip - have tacked it tonight. Think it will work, OH didn't scoff anyway .

Don't know when I'll get time to get the sewing machine up and running, it's a long time since I used it...