Flirty Fall Skirt with Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom: National Sewing Month 2013

It’s Day Twenty-Six of National Sewing Month! Too see the daily blog posts, projects of the day, and more National Sewing Month details, click here.

Hello Favecrafts blog readers!  I’m so happy to be guest posting here today!

My name is Jamie and I blog over at Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.  If you’ve never visited my blog before, I share all sorts of fun crafts, recipes, sewing projects, tutorials and free patterns.  These are just a few of my fave projects:

You’ll find all these projects and more over at Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom, so be sure to stop by!  (I have more than 60 tutorials on my just my Clothing and Accessories Tutorials page alone.)

I’ve always loved skirts.  To me, they are a perfect spring/summer/fall transition clothing item.  When temperatures are warm, you can pair a skirt with t-shirts and sandals.  Then as the weather starts to cool down, you can add a sweater, boots and even tights.

The project I am sharing today is a super simple, single tiered skirt.  What I love about this skirt is: 1. the construction is based on just a few measurements and the “pattern pieces” are straight cuts, so it really only takes a few minutes to cut them out.  2. The skirt has a comfy elastic waistband, but since the 1st tier is attached below the belly, there is hardly any extra bulk around the waist line.  (And who needs extra bulk there?)

Materials needed to make the Flirty Fall Skirt:

• 1 to 1.25 yards of fabric (depending on the size you make and width of fabric.)  I used a cotton jersey fabric so the skirt would drape closer to my body, but you could use almost any fabric.
• 3/4 inch elastic
• tape measure, ruler, fabric marker
• basic sewing supplies

Step 1:  Get measurements.

Measure around hip.  Add 2.5 inches to this measurement.  Refer to this as measurement A.

Measure from belly button to lower hip (Where you would like the gathered tier to start.)  Add 3/4 inch to this measurement.  (This will be measurement B.  I am 5’4” and my measurement B was 9 inches.)

Measure from lower hip area (where measurement B ended) to where you want the skirt length to end.  Add 3/4 inch for seam allowance and hem.  This is measurement C. (I went with 14 inches for a right at he knee length – though the true measurement might only have needed to be 13, it doesn’t hurt to add an extra inch to be safe. You can always trim it off later, but you can’t add it back…)

Step 2:  Cut fabric.

For the waistband/upper skirt, cut the fabric: width = measurement A by height = measurement B.  Make sure any stretch is running side to side.

For the lower tier cut two pieces of fabric: Height = measurement C by width = Measurement A  *(times) 1.5. (If your fabric is wide enough, you might be able to make this cut with just one piece of fabric.

Step 3.  Assemble skirt

Line up the sides of the skirt pieces, right sides together and sew along the side seam.  (If you are working with a fabric that will fray, finish this seam with your preferred method; zig-zag on your sewing machine, pinking shears or serger.)

To gather the bottom tier, set your sewing machine to the widest stitch length and sew a basting stitch around the top of the tier 1/4 inch from the edge.  (Many people like to sew 2 basting stitches about 1/8 inch apart.  I’ve tried it, and I agree that it helps keep the gathers even during the sewing process, though I tend to skip the 2nd row just for time-saving.)

Pull on the bobbin thread while sliding the fabric down the top thread.  Take care to spread the gathers evenly and keep gathering the bottom tier of the skirt until it is the same width of the waistband/top of skirt.

Line up the gathered edge with the bottom edge of the waistband/upper skirt, right sides together and pin together.

Sew along the gathered edge.  (If you are working with a fabric that will fray, finish this seam with your preferred method; zig-zag on your sewing machine, pinking shears or serger.)

Step 4.  Adding the elastic.

Measure around waist at belly button (or where you started your measurement in step 1.)  Cut a piece of elastic to the measurement minus 1.5 inches.  The elastic will stretch out while sewing.

Joint the edges of elastic with a wide tight zig-zag stitch (Don’t overlap the edges, just join them- this will reduce bulkiness.)

Finish the top edge of the skirt with a zig-zag or serged edge.

Pin the elastic and the skirt together at the marks.  The elastic should be about 1/4 inch down from the edge.

Attach the elastic using a wide zig-zag set at the default stitch length.

Lower the needle into the elastic and sew one stitch, then stretch the elastic until the fabric is taut (but don’t stretch the fabric).  Keep sewing from pin to pin, keeping the elastic evenly stretched.

Fold the elastic over and pin in place.

Stitch right along the edge of the elastic (but not on the elastic).

Try on the skirt for a final length check and hem.  (The original measurement allowed 1/2 for bottom hem.)

You are done!

Thanks for having me today and I hope you will have full making a flirty fall skirt!

Remember to check out Jamie’s blog, Scattered Thoughts of a Craft Mom for more great ideas and tutorials!

What is the first quilting project you remember making?