Sewing without pattern

I've seen these cross-over skirts everywhere. In the first episode of Dr Who series 8, Klara wears one of them in a red and black tartan and it reminded me that I wanted to make one myself. I found a tutorial online (which in the meantime seems to have disappeared) and it looked very doable.

I cut a rectangular, lined it (bloody stretch lining was very slippery...), hemmed it, added two darts at the back and one at each side, used snap fasteners and added lace at the hem and side. It somehow doesn't look quite right though. It's sewn so it sits on the hip rather than the waist, but I think it's a bit too big and too long. And no matter how much I iron the fabric, it just never looks ironed. Slightly frustrating...

I will have a think on how to fix it. Having said that, I think it might look ok with black tights and boots.

Update: I decided to shorten it by about 5cm, which made a massive difference (honestly, it looks much better than in the photo now!). But unfortunately due to all the ripping of the dart-seams, the fabric is a stretched out now. I think I might have to take off the lace on the side and sew it back into place. So annoying: I had really hoped I'd be able to finish this in a weekend...