Drop-waist skirt tutorial 1

Drop-waist Skirt Tutorial

A great little spring/summer skirt for any size

Please, read all of these instructions carefully before you begin. If you have any questions, you can email me at kristin.geater@gmail.com This is my first tutorial that involves any kind of math so, please, bear with me.

Drop-waist skirt tutorial 2 1. Gather your materials. You will need a sewing machine, up to two yards of main fabric and one yard of lining fabric (depending on what size skirt you are making), matching thread, inch wide elastic for waist band, scissors and pins. 2. Measure around your waist. Now, multiply that number by . For example, for a thirty inch waist, you would get 45 inches. Divide the number you come up with by 2, which in this example would be 22 . Decide how long you want your drop on your skirt to be and cut two rectangles from the main fabric. For a womans skirt, I would do about a 7 inch drop. So, using the example in step 1, you would cut your two rectangles to measure 22 x 7 inches. 3. Decide how long you want the bottom, twirly part of your skirt to be. Im kinda short, so I went with 20 inches for a knee length skirt. Cut two rectangles of main fabric using the your waist measurement by how long you want the twirly part of your skirt. Again using the measurement of 30 inches found in steps 1&2, you would cut these rectangles to measure 30 x 20 inches.

4. Cut out 2 rectangles from your lining fabric to measure the same width as the smaller main skirt pieces by the same length as the bottom skirt pieces. Using the example in steps 1, 2, & 3, you would cut 22 x 20 inches. (Tip: if my pieces are almost square, I will usually label the edge as length or width with a light colored, washable marker) Yay!!! Youre done with the cutting out part. If youre still with me, well move on to sewing :) 5. Set your sewing machine to the loosest tension and longest stitch. On my Singer, length looks something like this: and tension like this:

6. Using a inch seam allowance, sew a straight line along one wide edge of both bottom pieces.

Drop-waist skirt tutorial 3

7. With right sides facing, place on edge of a smaller rectangle parallel to the stitched edge of one of the large rectangles. Carefully, pull one thread to gather the fabric of the larger piece until it fits the width of the smaller. This will take some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it gets easier. Repeat with the other two pieces. (Tip: Pin! Pin! Pin!) 8. Reset your sewing machine to your preferred settings, if you have not already done so. Sewing about inch below the gathering stitch, sew both pieces together. (Tip: To keep my fabric from fraying in the wash and to reinforce my stitches, I like to overcast with a quick zig-zag along the edge after I have sewn them together)

9. With Right sides facing, sew your main skirt together by sewing a straight line up both long sides, overcasting as you see fit. At this point, I also like to overcast my bottom edge, as well.

10. With right sides of your lining fabric facing, sew the long sides together and overcast the bottom edge. Since this piece will be inside the skirt where no one will see it, we wont worry about hemming it unless you really want to. 11. Turn your main skirt right side out and place it inside of your lining with the right sides facing.

11. Attach your main skirt to your lining by sewing one straight stitch all the way around, allowing about inch seam allowance.

12. Turn your skirt right side out

Drop-waist skirt tutorial 4 And tuck the lining inside. Almost Done!!! Now its starting to look like a skirt. Just a few more steps! 13. Approximately 1 inch below the seam joining the lining and the outside skirt, sew a straight line leaving a 2 inch gap. This creates the casing for the elastic.

14. Going between the main skirt and the lining, pull your elastic through the casing. (Tip: I like to put a safety pin on the end of the elastic that I am pulling through and pin the other end to the fabric so it doesnt get pulled into the casing)

15. Pin the ends of the elastic together and sew back and forth a couple of times to ensure it will hold together.

16. Sew up the 2 inch gap.

17. Using your preferred method, hem your skirt. For mine, I just folded over about 1 inch on the bottom edge, ironed it down, and sewed a straight line all the way around.

18. Thats it! You are done! As you can see, this skirt can be made small enough to fit a woman or a little girl. My daughter and I have matching ones in several different fabrics :)