Does anyone else procrastinate those sewing projects that your wardrobe needs, but which don’t really excite you?

Like, a plain navy pencil skirt, for example!

Enter the Agnes Skirt from Pearson and Pope…

I’ve been telling myself for about two years now that I need a navy pencil skirt. At least once a week, I pull a shirt out of wardrobe and think, this would go perfectly with a navy pencil skirt…

So, for this week’s instalment of my skirt mini-series, we’re turning to the wardrobe classic: the pencil skirt.

Introducing Pearson and Pope…

So I was determined to be practical and sew myself a wool pencil skirt. I was going to use the Sew Over It Ultimate Pencil Skirt, which I’ve sewn before here.

But then, a brand new indie pattern company, Pearson and Pope, popped up. And their Agnes Skirt looked amazing.

POCKETS in a fitted pencil skirt – that’s pretty much the holy grail, right?

If you haven’t checked out Pearson and Pope’s patterns, I really recommend having a look. They specialise in work wear. This is a real gap in the indie pattern world. I find myself often looking at indie sewing patterns and thinking about how I could make it work appropriate. Pearson and Pope have done all the work for me!

And thanks a bunch to Bianca over at Sleepless in Bavaria whose blog post about her own Agnes skirt introduced me to Pearson and Pope in the first place!

My Agnes Skirt

According to the size chart for the Agnes Skirt, I was a bit all over the place. My waist measurement recommended cutting an 18 (the largest size is 20, so the available size range isn’t necessarily huge…), whereas my hip fell between a 12 and 14. Trying to grade between more than two sizes over the couple of inches between your waist and hip was, well, a tad challenging. And, in the end, the 18 at the waist was too big anyway. I would have been better off cutting the 16 and then making adjustments on my body.

All about Agnes

The Agnes Skirt is fully lined , with a lovely long back vent and those wonderful pockets. It closes with a back zipper, combined with a hook and eye or similar at the waistband.

It has a few ‘above average’ techniques incorporated into it. It includes a zipper guard and has a waistband technique using bias binding that I had never seen before. If you are in the mood for a more substantial sew, don’t look past this one. I was intrigued by the zipper guard, although I didn’t end up sewing it as my fabric was so bulky that I doubted it would sit well.

The sewing instructions for the Agnes Skirt are very detailed. They include little tips, like the idea that you could use bias binding to have a cute finish at the pocket edge. This is one of my favourite features of my finished Agnes skirt.

Instruct me…

The instructions, while having some diagrams throughout, are mostly written. I totally understand that, for a new indie pattern company, it is probably much more approachable to have word-based, rather than diagram-based instructions.

I have to say though, that I am a visual learner. As a result, there was a point at which I got a bit lost. I really wanted  more pictures, rather than “from the inside out, with the front on top, take the left…” (just to be crystal clear, that’s my exaggeration, not part of the actual instructions!!!).

Even if it is actually really simple, there is a point at which my brain freaks out with directional-based instructions.

And it kind of makes me irrationally unable to continue – mind block! You should see me trying to navigate – once I get lost, my ability to recover is practically nil …

None of this is to say that there is anything wrong with the instructions, just that everyone absorbs information differently. And it turns out, I prefer pictures!

So, in all honesty, I actually gave up on the instructions partway through sewing the vent. I just wasn’t sure that I was looking at things from the right side and was a bit thrown by the order of things. So from partway through the vent, I sewed the rest of the skirt instinctively. This likely explains why my vent is a bit off, but hey I never see the back of my skirt anyway!

(**EDIT** After I hit publish on this post I was reminded that Pearson and Pope actually include a photo guide of step-by-step photos which accompany the sewing instructions. It’s a separate file and I somehow just totally forgot it existed. Entirely, my bad! This is the risk of getting super excited by a pattern and immediately printing it, but then only getting around to sewing it a month or more later. I simply forgot watch attachments were included! So if you’re also visually oriented, the photo guide is very useful and will see you through! So don’t be like Beck, remember there’s a photo guide available!)

This did somewhat impact on my enjoyment level in sewing this garment. When things don’t quite work out, I tend to just want to finish! This meant I didn’t try the nifty looking new waistband technique either!

It also meant I lazily machine sewed the hem. This does let down the look of the finished product, so I’m a bit disappointed in myself. My usual motto is that if I’m not feeling a project, I should put it away until I feel more inspired. But since, as necessary as it is, I knew that it would be hard to get excited again by such a ‘boring’ project, so I powered on!

All about wool…

My Agnes Skirt is sewn up in a heavy coat weight French Navy Twill from Fabworks Mill. Honestly, I know I’ve raved about them before, but the affordable high quality wool from Fabworks Mill constantly amazes me. This only cost me 10 pounds per meter! And this pattern only used about a metre or so…

Sewing a pencil skirt in an almost coat weight fabric has been something of a revelation for me. When I last sewed up a couple of pencil skirts, the dreaded ‘hip cling’ made me feel self conscious. So I don’t really wear them. Sewing in such a heavy weight fabric means the weight of the fabric pulls it down and it skims, rather than clings, the hips.

Agnes Skirt: The Verdict

Without any doubt, this is the best pencil skirt I have ever worn. I think it suits me well. It has a lovely shape and some elevated features. It is hands down better on my body than the previous pencil skirts I have sewn. And, as much as I had a lack of enthusiasm to sew such an ‘everyday’ item, I absolutely love having it in my wardrobe now that it’s done.

Do you sometimes struggle to commit to those necessary but maybe not so ‘exciting’ projects?

And, by the way, if you missed parts 1 and 2 of this mini-series all about skirts, you can check out my Deer and Doe Azara skirt and Papercut Patterns YoYo skirt.

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.