Refashion: Too small suede skirt....my first time sewing suede!

Just when I said I didn't wear skirts a lot these days in my last post - here is another skirt refashion! I thrifted this too small suede skirt last year. I am not usually a leather/suede clothing person. But I liked the colour of this skirt and at this low price, I thought I could learn to sew with suede. If it didn't turn out wearable I could always disassemble it and make a purse!

The skirt was so tight that I couldn't even put it on. I laid it down on the floor and measured it with the Vogue 8126 skirt I just made. I needed to add about 8 cm in width from waist to hem in order for me to put it on.

1. First I disassembled the whole skirt with my trusty seam ripper: waistband, lining, side seams.

2. Then I used some remnant black ponte knit and cut two 6 cm wide strips. I attached them to the side seams with leather needles. (NOTE: I had to buy Leather needles. I tried using a Jean needle and it didn't work at all. The Leather needle had no problems whatsoever. I was able to sew at at regular pace with the leather needle.)

 3. I then trimmed everything to length. I don't usually look good with waistbands so I just omitted it and cut and sewed a new lining (Bemberg) directly to the top of the skirt. I then flipped the lining over and topstitched the waist. I tried it on and it fit perfectly with the black knit panels slightly stretched (Too perfectly actually. The suede has no give which means I can't eat a a meal in this - hahahaha!).

 4. And to add some interest to the skirt, I added this black ponte knit detail at the back:

It's actually not too practical to have this embellishment at the back. I just wore the skirt and sat on it and the bow became all wonky! I guess it's the kind of skirt that you can't sit down in - just kidding! I'll just take the bow out.

I'm pretty happy with this simple refashion. I'm not scared of sewing with suede anymore. Yay!!