Mini Tutorial- Easy Skirt

Here is a mini tutorial on making what I call the "Mother's Day Skirt" I also call it the "easy skirt". I call it the easy skirt because it took less time to make the skirt than it did to wash a load of diapers. Just wash them...not wash AND dry them...get the picture? EASY!!

There are no pictures of me working on the skirt because I forgot to take some (hence, the "mini" tutorial). I was so happy to sew after work last night that I totally didn't think of doing a tutorial! But you can see one of the finished skirts in my Mothers Day Picture below. I also made a matching ruffle flower for that one....tutorial for that will come later!

Now...on to the skirt.

You will need a long rectangle, or two smaller rectangles, depending on whether you want two side hems or one. I made mine with one long piece. Measure around your waiste and get your measurement. We'll say that measurement is 30". Now double it. This will give you a nice gather to your skirt and make it more twirly. So now you have a 60" long piece of fabric. (If you're doing two pieces, you have two 30" long pieces of fabric.) Now. measure from your waste down to where you want the skirt to stop. Mine was 23" to hit at my knee. Add two inches to this measurement for your elastic and bottom hem. So now we have a large rectangle that is 60"x 25". It's okay if your fabric is not this long, that's where you can do the two pieces.

Fold your long piece lengthwise, wrong sides together and stitch up the sides using a 1/4" seam allowance. Now you have a tube that will soon be your skirt!

I always do the elastic casing first, so you can try it on and hem it to where you want it to fall. You'll need a piece of 1" No-Roll elastic for the waistband. Cut it one ince bigger than your waist measurement. This is to allow for overlap and sewing.

Make a casing for your elastic by turning the top of your fabric down, wrong sides together by 1/4", then by another 1 1/4". This will leave no raw edges and make the inside of your skirt pretty. Sew around the casing leaving a 2" opening to thread your elastic through.

Attach a safety pin to your elastic and feed it through your casing, being careful not to let the other end of the elastic escape or you'll have to start over! Once it is through the casing, making sure the elastic isn't twisted in the casing. Overlap the elastic by 1" and sew over the pieces several times to make sure they're secure to each other. Once that's done you can sew your casing shut.

Now you can slip on your skirt and see where you want it to fall. If it's hitting where you would like on your leg, you can remove it (if you don't take it off to hem it, please let me know how you do this!) and make a small hem. If you would like it shorter, you can trim some off the bottom. Turn under 1/4" then another 1/4" to hid the raw edges and sew around the hem. You can also use bias tape in a contrasting color if you want to finish your hem that way.

Now slip on your skirt and twirl away!! Happy Sewing!!!