Tutorial Tuesday: DIY Skirt

Hi all! I've decided to start doing some tutorials on how to do various things like making clothes, head bands, jazzing up your nails etc. I'll do it every now and then on a Tuesday, probably not every Tuesday as I don;t want to run out of idea's straight away! My first Tutorial Tuesday is how to make a simple elasticated skirt. It's really easy to do and with this step by step guide on what to do then hopefully you'll all be able to make one! :)



You will need:

Fabric (I usually get 1 meter and use the length of that for the skirt), fabric scissors, measuring tape, pins, elastic,

and a sewing machine and thread.

Step 1: First of all you need to lay out your fabric on a flat surface with the right side down (pattern side down). You want your elastic to sit on the longest length of the fabric so this should be along the top of your rectangle of fabric. Lay out your elastic, with a little more going over the edge of the fabric, and fold over enough fabric to cover the elastic and a little more so that it doesn't catch in the machine. Pin the folded fabric down with the elastic sitting inside the fold and also pin the elastic to the fabric so that it doesn't move and get lost in the fold.

Do this all the way along the top of the fabric until you reach the end and then pin the elastic to the fabric again like you did at the begining. I forgot to mention, you don't actually have to put the elastic in straight away you can thread the elastic through afterwards, but for me I find it easier to put the elastic in as you go, so long as you have enough elastic.

So then you sew along the line where you have pinned making sure you don't catch the elastic in the machine and making sure both ends of the elastic are still pinned to the fabric to keep it all in place.

Step 2: Next you need to take one end of your elastic, un-pin it from the fabric and pull on the elastic making sure that you push all the gathers that are being created down to the other end of the fabric. You need to make sure when doing this that you don't make the skirt too small. Make sure that the elastic has to stretch a little to fit you, this way the skirt will stay up and will fit you perfectly. Once you have got the elastic pulled to the right length pin both ends of the elastic to the fabric again like before.

Step 3: After this you will need to attach both sides together. Lay out the fabric again as best as you can and fold the fabric, right sides together (pattern facing inside), until you reach the other end. Then pin along the edge all the way down starting from just underneath the elastic and sew.

Step 4: Next simply take both ends of the elastic and tie them together making a knot. Then the elastic will be secure and can be adjusted if needs be. Tuck the ends of the knot into the fold of the fabric to neaten it up and hide the elastic.

 

Step 5: Next up is the length of your skirt. The best way to do this is to try on the skirt and measure how much fabric you will need to take off the bottom to get the length you want, but make sure you remember that you will need to fold the fabric along the bottom up twice to get the hem, so always measure with that in mind. Then take the skirt off and start cutting. I usually lay the fabric flat and keep moving my measuring tape along the fabric so that I cut off the right amount all the way around.

Your skirt should then look like this:

Step 6: Lastly is the hem. Just simply fold up inside along the bottom of the skirt twice to hide the raw edge and sew! Once you come to the end be sure to pull the thread through from the patterned side of the fabric to the plain/wrong side and cut.

And your skirt should look a little something like this:

I hope this all makes sence and it's clear what you have to do, if you have any questions then just comment and I will get back to you straight away! And if you do make a skirt from this tutorial I would love to know how it goes! :)