Faux Leather Faux Wrap Skirt

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I've had this leather-look PU jersey fabric sitting in my stash for about a year, but I knew from the moment I saw it exactly what I wanted to use it for. I've been wanting to make myself a faux leather mini skirt for a while now, and this caramel fabric seemed like the perfect material to make one with. It's actually a pretty thick fabric, and has just enough stretch to make it super tight fitting, but not so much stretch that it flops about and loses its shape.

I tried making a faux leather skirt a few years back, but I had a lot to learn back then, and decided to make it incredibly fitted, despite the fabric not having any stretch at all to it. I still really love the skirt, and love the silhouette it created, but the reality is that I've never once worn it after taking the photos for it. I realised with that skirt, that as much as I like my clothes to be super tight-fitting and figure hugging, it's also great to be able to move and sit down. Someday I'd love to recreate the skirt in a more sensible fabric - stay tuned, I guess.

Anyway, my very obvious oversight with my previous attempt at a faux leather skirt made me more determined to make this one right. I drafted the pattern myself, which consists of 7 pieces. There are two simple fitted skirt backs, and two crossover front pieces, one of which has three pleats on the side. There are then two back facings, and one front facing, cut on the fold. With hindsight, I may have made the centre front crossover point slightly too high, as it is quite risque when walking, but I guess I can live with that.

The main issue with sewing up a coated fabric (and I guess, real leather) is that any pin/needle holes will be permanent. Instead of pins, I used bulldog clips to hold the pieces together before sewing - I believe you can get proper sewing-oriented clips, but bulldog clips worked just fine for me. The stress with sewing it up is you've got to get it right first time. I'd definitely recommend making a toile if you're planning to sew with this kind of fabric, since you don't want to be doing any fitting at all with your fashion fabric, and to take it really slow on the sewing machine, just to be safe. I also used leather machine needles for this.

Luckily for me, it did all work first time! I managed to stretch out the waist seam a little bit when adding in the facings, which I'm annoyed about, but (hopefully) lesson learned. I put a zipper down the centre back seam and boom, done! It's now too cold to wear it (seasonal sewing is definitely not my forte) so look out for it on my Instagram in like May, I guess!

 So that's it for now - let me know what you think and see you next time!