Creative Sewing: Look, ma, no pattern!

I could, were I feeling particularly generous/mendacious, have called this "first adventures in drafting", because I made this skirt without any pattern at all. 

I wanted a basic miniskirt, but didn't have a pattern for one. I balked at the idea of paying £10 upwards for a pattern as basic as I wanted, and also the piece of leftover stretch denim I cut this skirt from was tiny and awkwardly shaped, so I took matters into my own hands. 

I'm still bigging this up unreasonably. This is essentially just a really stretchy tube. The tube is smaller at the top but not by much; I made it to fit my hips and not my waist (this is as short as I'm prepared to go, and there was literally no more material to make it a higher rise). I say "made it to fit", I mean "vaguely took my hip size into account while cutting three rectangles". 

Originally I put a zip in this, but after trying it on I took it out again. This denim is stretchy enough that the skirt doesn't need closures, and frankly why waste a zip? The fabric is heavy enough, despite its stretch, not to cling to every lump and bump, which is what happened when I tried making a pull-on miniskirt in ponte jersey (you will never see that here, it is deeply unpleasant and I have already thrown it away). 

The skirt also has a scanty and extremely pieced-together facing at the waist, which I have topstitched down because flappy facings can all go and find a corner to die in together, frankly. 

I'm only including this picture because of the shoe. My mum was having a clear out and found this pair of purple suede ruffly T-bar shoes, and I'm trying them out to see if there was a reason they ended up under a bed instead of on my feet CONSTANTLY. From initial test runs it seems that I need an insole cushion but they don't rub or hurt my feet in any way, and I am very excited to reintroduce them to my wardrobe. 

This skirt was pretty haphazardly constructed and how long it will survive I don't know, but I will sure as hell be a) wearing it and b) working out how to draft an actual miniskirt pattern with this kind of shape. I'd got it into my head that I wasn't comfortable with short skirts anymore, probably because everything I'd been trying was full or flared and gave me exposed-pants panic, but I really like the way this looks. I am very much not a lover of my hips, stomach and thighs, and being able to look at these photos and think "I look good in this form-fitting miniskirt" is pretty sweet. Note to self: purchase more extremely stretchy denim as soon as the opportunity arises.