RTW: Easy Skirt for All AgesTUTORIAL

Reader's Tutorial Week is a week where i spotlight my Reader's fabulous tutorials and introduce you to fellow Craftaholics. it's tons of fun!!

Hello!  My name is Camille and I blog over at All About Mommies.  I make and sell skirts, hair accessories, and purses/bags. I also shared this easy skirt tutorial on how to make a thick elastic waistband skirt.  This can be adapted for any size!

A few I have made...

Skirt for me!  (cost- $3!)

skirt for Sara... and to see more of this skirt and of an adult skirt like this, go here.

And one more for my Lizzie.  Ok, not just one more, but you'll have to follow my blog if you want to see more... they are still coming!

This is the easiest skirt to make!  There are lots of variations, so you can just take what you want from this and do what you want!

You will need:
Baby skirt- 3/8 yard fabric (length will be about 10 inches or less from belly button to knees)
Toddler Skirt- 1/2 yard (15 inches or less length)
Little Girl skirt- you will have to guess!  I don't have an older girl, so I don't have those measurements.  Read through the measuring section and I'm sure you can figure it out!
Adult skirt/teen skirt- about 1 1/2 yards, possibly 1 3/4 yard depending on how long you want it!

Oh, and I forgot to take pics of the first few steps with one skirt, so that's why it goes from a big to a little skirt! And different fabric!

First off, take your measurements.  *Adult skirts will use two sepearate pieces and sew the sides together.  For the kid's sizes, any waist up to 24 inches you can just use one piece- selvadge to selvadge, 36 inches.  Does that make sense?

Anyway, once you have your measurements... do a little math.  And I mean little, don't worry, I hate math!

To clarify, for a skirt for me- I use 2 pieces of fabric, 36 inches wide, by 26 inches long.

Anywhere between 1 1/2 or 2 times your waist is good.  

For Lizzie... my two year old

here are her measurements.

So, I just sew right sides together, to make a tube.  Which means on an adult skirt there would be 2 seams, on either side, and on a little girl skirt, there would be 1 seam, which I put in the back.

Then like I said, you have a VERY wide tube.  It is supposed to be big! Because you will gather it later.

Double roll the top (for under the waistband) and the bottom (hem) and iron flat.  You don't have to double roll but it make for a much nicer looking skirt! Sew both top and bottom.

It will look like this, on both top and bottom.

Pick which end will be your top (choose the messier hem!) and sew 2 long ruffling stitches.  Check out rufflesandstuff.blogspot.com if you need to learn how to ruffle.

*Important!  Do not sew your ruffling stitches on the double rolled hem.  Sew directly below the hem, as shown.

So now you should have 3 rows of stitching, top one is the one holding your rolled edge together.  Below it are 2 gathering stitches.

Prepare your elastic by cutting a piece that goes perfectly around your waist.  Then add a half inch.  I then burn my edges so they don't fray, on both ends of the elastic.  (although you should cut off the parts that turn black, unlike I did in this picture!) Then you just overlap both ends barely so you can stich a zig zag stitch to hold it together.  Do this NICELY as it will be somewhat seen!

(Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step, so this picture is of the elastic seam, after it's all finished tho! ASK if you are confused on how to do this!) It's pretty easy.

Then pull your gathering stitches and slide your ruffles down, make sure the whole skirt is ruffle evenly and fits neatly inside your elastic.

Matching up the seam with the elastic seam, this will be the back, (or in the case of an adult size skirt- on one of the side seams.) you now need to pin the skirt to the elastic.  Make sure the elastic is far enough down to cover your gathering stitches.

Here's another view at how we are doing this.  Very simple! Your elastic is over all your stitches. Your double rolled top will be on the inside of your skirt.

Sew on, with a zig zag stitch.  (zig zag allows for it to stretch a little bit.)

This is what it will look like. You can barely see the zig zag stitch across the elastic edge.  This should be done carefully as it will be seen!

And for that little "extra" something, I added tiny ric rac to this one. I don't think I'm buying the tiny ric rac again, too hard to sew on straight!  Don't forget to burn the ends of your ric rac to prevent fraying!

Voila!  You're done!  A skirt in about an hour!

This one will be listed in my shop tonight !  So if you're interested check it out my shop! 

So, there are some variations or short cuts you could take with this skirt.

*if you are a lucky person who owns a serger, simply serge the top and bottom instead of double rolling.  It will be much less bulky.  I use my moms whenever I am over there and it's so nice!

*obviously you can change up the trimming on the hem, add a ruffle, peeking ric rac, ribbon, or a hem from a coordinating fabric.

*This is a great project to use thrifted vintage sheets... I am so on the lookout for one for me!

*This really does work for any size, I am not a super thin girl right now!  I am a pant size 14, and this skirt still looked really cute on me!  If you have questions about how much to cut for you, just send me an email or leave a comment!

Thanks!  Let me know PLEASE if you have ANY questions... I'm still new at this whole "tutorials" thing.  Not sure if I explained it the best way! 

And I'd love to see what you make!

Also, expect to see more of these- I am sewing them for my sale coming up! I don't get tired of them and they are so cheap and easy!

don't forget to enter the Staker Sensations vinyl $30 gift card Giveaway!!