Comfortable work wear is something that I always struggle with. I want to look polished and put together, but still be able to shelve books, sit down, and not want to change half way through a shift.

A few months ago I tried on a ponte pencil skirt from a ready-to-wear shop and thought — this is it! Ponte pencil skirts look just as polished as other pencil skirts but have the added benefit of being stretchy. I set out to make my own ASAP.

I knew that I would need a fairly structured ponte, so when I saw this gorgeous peacock colored heavyweight ponte I snapped it up right away! It has the perfect amount of stretch and structure, without being see-through.

For this skirt, I used my TNT self-drafted pencil skirt pattern with a few modifications for knitwear.

1. I eliminated the zipper. Knowing how stretchy this fabric was, I removed the zipper and sewed the back seam with the normal seam allowance.
2. Added a waistband. My usual method is to finish the top with a piece of bias binding or ribbon sewed on then turned under. To retain the stretch of the skirt, I improvised a waistband out of a piece of fabric folded in half and then serged on to the top of the skirt.
3. I removed 3 + inches from the side seams. This is one that I didn’t plan for but became necessary when I tried the skirt on during construction. Because the ponte is SO stretchy, it needed to be much closer fitting so that the whole skirt didn’t fall down! I ended up removing around 1.5 inches from each side seam and may go back and remove another inch from the center back as well.

There you have it – the perfect work wear basic! This skirt is just the thing to transition my wardrobe into fall. I can’t wait to make one in navy and blush – in fact, I’ve just finished prewashing the navy fabric!

What are your work wardrobe basics?