A straight skirt is a wardrobe staple for many women, but a truly flattering one isn’t always truly straight. For a shapely, slimming look, Threads Contributing Editor Louise Cutting shows how to create a pegged skirt from a pattern. This results in a skirt that is narrower at the hem than at the hips and which creates a lengthening, slenderizing effect.

Measure the pattern

Many commercial skirt patterns are cut straight from the hip to the hemline. Measure your pattern, perpendicular to the grainline, from center front/back to the side seam at the fullest part of the hips. Measure at the hemline, and compare. If they are the same, reduce the hem measurement.

Narrow the hem edge

On the skirt front and back pieces, make a mark 1/2 inch in from the side seam cutting line at the bottom edge, and connect this to the side seam cutting line at the fullest part of the hip. This removes 1/2 inch from each quarter of the skirt at the hemline, for a total reduction of 2 inches. Louise shows how to true the hem allowance at the side seam so the hem can be sewn smoothly to the skirt.