Sarcasm and Sweetness: Circle Skirt: A Beginner Sewer's Attempt

Full disclosure: I bought my sewing machine second hand over a year ago and have barely touched it since. When I was a child I tried my hand at sewing blankets and pillows, but never really picked up sewing beyond that. Recently I have been making a conscious effort to change that because I am having more and more difficulty finding inexpensive skirts and dresses I like, that are an appropriate length for my 5'10 frame. In my imagined future, I will be able to sew myself beautiful skirts and dresses for every occasion. That being said, I have a full-time job, a house to (try to) keep clean, weights to lift, a husband who seems to like spending time with me and a nasty procrastination habit.

This circle skirt is based on the tutorial posted by Merrick's Art, and it was my first time hemming something, inserting a zipper, adding a waistband, sewing a knit fabric and trying to cut fabric to a specific measurement. As you can imagine, it did not turn out perfectly, but I consider it wearable.

I used a medium-weight knit fabric that I picked up and pre-washed a few months ago (see what I mean about procrastination?), instead of the polyester suiting fabric used in the tutorial. Here are my lessons learned from my first circle skirt:

When cutting the fabric, start with the waist smaller than you think it is supposed to be, especially if using a knit fabric. I cut mine way too large and had to add a couple darts and cut a V where the zipper went, making the hem less than straight.
There is a way to hem a knit fabric with a sewing machine without any puckering, but I have not mastered it yet. Maybe next time.
Making a waistband out of a thick knit fabric is not as straight forward as a fabric that presses easily. I will need to research how to do it so the seam is flat.
When inserting the zipper, make sure that it is pinned evenly on both sides. If you look closely at mine you would be able to see that it is not (entirely) even.
Black was a very good colour selection for my first skirt, it seems to hide most of the little flaws.

Overall this was an excellent choice for a first sewing project. I got my sewing machine serviced for the first time right before starting, which I highly recommend, because it ran so much smoother than before.