Tiny Bits Of Something: Skirt Tutorial

Hi everyone!! Sorry its been so long since my last post but I have been busy the last couple of weeks. Today I am posting how to make a very cute but simple skirt. If you are a begging sewer this is a great project for you to do. Here is the finished skirt. I am very happy with how it turned out!

Okay so lets get started!

Supplies:

Fabric (I got 3 yards but wanted some left for another project. Also I bought cotton but if you wanted a stretch you could use a jersey)

Elastic (i got 1 1/2 width and the length will depend on your size)

Tread

Cutting tool (scissors/rotary blade)

Sewing machine

First you will want to start by wrapping the fabric around your waist so it goes around you one and a half times. You will want to measure where you want to wear you skirt. If you want a high waist skirt then measure higher on your body as opposed to measuring at your natural waist.

After measuring you are going to want to cut off the extra fabric and set it aside. Once you have the extra fabric cut you will then fold your fabric in half and pin your ends together and this will form your back seam. When pinning your fabric you will want your pattered sides together. Also when pinning you want the head of the pin to be horizontal to the foot of your sewing machine, this will make them easier to pull out while sewing. See pictures for example. Also dont forget to lock your stitches when you start and end sewing.

**NOTE HOW PATTERN SIDES ARE PINNED TOGETHER**

After your back seam is sewn together now its time to measure your elastic for the waist. Just like when you measured the fabric you want to measure the elastic where you want to wear your skirt. I didn't want my skirt to be loose so i pulled my elastic tight around my waist. Unlike when you measured the fabric you only want the elastic to go around your waist once.

Now we are going to start working on the waistband. Depending on what width your elastic band is is how you will decide how big to make your waistband. I made my waistband 3" and found it was to wide so i would suggest 2" if you bought an 1 1/2" elastic piece. You will want to pin the waist band before sewing just to ensure its nice and even.

When you go to sew the waistband you want to leave a gap so you can slip the elastic in. To ensure i wouldnt sew the waistband shut i put two pins at one section so i knew when to stop

So when you start sewing the waist band start one pin down from your double pins and stop at the double pins. Also don't forget to lock those stitches.

Here is a picture of how your foot should look when you start sewing your waist band. You want to leave space for your elastic to fit in your waistband. So if you bought 1 1/2" elastic piece and measured 2" waistband then you have 1/2" seam allowance.

Now its time to put your elastic in the waistband and this was the hardest part for me. Its not hard but just tedious work. In the gap you left in the waistband you need to slip the elastic in and fish it around the whole waistband so both ends of the elastic can be seen. When fishing the elastic through the waistband your fabric will start to bunch which is what we want to happen.

After both ends of your elastic are out of the skirt you need to sew both ends together

After sewing the ends together the elastic needs to go back in the waist band and you can sew the gap in the waistband you had left to slip the elastic in. Don't forget those locking stitches!

Since i had made my waistband 3" i had to sew the top of my waistband so my elastic was nice and snug. If your waistband fits your elastic good then don't worry about this step. All i did was fold the top of the waistband over and sew so my elastic wasn't moving around at all.

Almost done! all we have left is the bottom hem. Now for the hem i didn't pin my fabric first because i could eyeball it. I could only do this because the pattern of my fabric let me see straight lines. If you don't have a fabric like this i would suggest pinning it before you sew. I did my hem only about 1" but that's because i wanted a long skirt. If you want your skirt shorter then you will need to cut them hem it accordingly.