Pencil Skirt Muslin

I put together a muslin for my pencil skirt the other day. I'm working with my first Burda pattern, 8155. It went together in a snap and just needed a few minor changes.

First, there was too much ease in the hips, so I took it in about 1cm there and down the length of the skirt. Second, I had to admit that I just don't like skirts sitting on my natural waist. I'm too short-waisted and frankly, I find it uncomfortable. I decided to just remove the waistband altogether, and that helped immensely. So, this means that I'll have to draft a facing, but that's no big deal.

(please ignore the wrinkles! I ironed before sewing, I swear.)

I'm definitely getting crinkles at the point where my legs meet my torso, which Fit For Real People says can be fixed by simply removing the front darts. I tried unpinning them, but then the waist is too big. I'm not sure if the answer is just to take in the waist a bit at the side seam? (Or, considering I've already taken the skirt in at the hip, just make the whole thing in a size smaller and omit the front darts?)

I was interested to see that at least one person who's made up this pattern noted that it sits higher in the front than the back. I'm not sure if that's a problem with the pattern, or if that person just has a very similar figure to mine, but I noticed this as well. In these photos, I've removed about 5/8" from the front of the skirt and it's now sitting about level.

(the side seam isn't totally vertical, but that's just because of the way I was standing.)

So, I guess my next step is just to play around and figure out how exactly to handle those front crinkles, and then draft a facing and be on my merry way. The good news is, once I removed the waistband and wore the skirt lower, it was actually super comfortable. Old habits die hard, I guess!