I decided to do something different this week for my blog: I’m attempting to sew a skirt. I’m not going to lie, I have made several skirts before, but it’s been a while since my last attempt. For this tutorial, I mostly followed this video. Since it is the fall season, I wanted to create a cute, simple skirt I could wear to seasonal activities such as a corn maze, pumpkin patch, etc. As a result, I chose a blue gingham print from Joann’s for this project.
I first measure out my fabric and add my seam allowance; I want the skirt to be about 20 inches long, and since I’m using an elastic waistband, I double the amount needed for the width (50 inches). I didn’t have enough time to purchase any lining for my skirt, so it will be unlined. As said before, I’ll be using an elastic waistband and cutting my fabric into rectangles to create a rectangle skirt style.
Now that I have my pieces cut, I’m going to put them right sides together so the “wrong” ends face up. I’ll then sew along the sides.
Next, I have to make a channel for my elastic to go through at the top. Since I don’t want my edges to fray, I roll the top of my skirt and sew a straight stitch.
I then roll the top of the skirt just wide enough so the elastic can fit through and sew again with a straight stitch.
I don’t sew all the way around the skirt because I still need to connect the elastic and sew it together.
After leaving an opening for my elastic, I carefully feed it through the channel that I made and then zigzag stitch the ends to secure them.
Afterwards, I sew the opening closed.
As a rough estimate on how well my skirt was turning out, I tried it on and decided that I wanted to make it shorter. I folded the hem about three inches and sewed a straight stitch. I didn’t want the hem to fray at the bottom, so I then sewed a zigzag stitch over the line I just made as a reference.
After finishing up the hem, I’m done making my skirt!
I’m definitely not the best seamstress, but this was super easy and a lot of fun to make, and now I have a cute gingham skirt to add to my wardrobe.
If I were to make this skirt again, I would definitely add a couple more inches to the width so it would be more “poofy”. I would also buy thicker elastic so the waistband lays down nicer and the overall appearance looks cleaner. In addition, I would also buy a different fabric since I realized that this probably looks like picnic blanket material. Regardless, I know I’ll still look cute.
If you want to make a skirt yourself, I highly suggest taking a look at the link I provided in the beginning of the article. Although I’ve been sewing for less than a year, I can’t wait to learn how to make even more fun garments in the future.
Photo credits: Elena Kallergis, tumblr.com