How to make a skirt

How to sew skirts – 50+ FREE DIY SKIRT PATTERNS

How to draft skirt patterns that suit you

Skirt – that classic garment that is at once feminine and utilitarian.

Skirts come in a lot of shapes and styles and with lots of adjectives attached to them, like sexy, stylish, flattering, modest, cute, sophisticated, graceful, prim, traffic-stopping.

One great thing about skirts is that it is very easy to style them – pair them with a favorite top and you are ready for anything – a party or an office meeting or a family dinner- There is a skirt for every occasion. Here are the 18 different types of skirts.

Just choose your fabric and draft a favourite skirt pattern with your own measurements. It can be made of just a piece of fabric or of multiple pieces with a variety of embellishments, trims, fasteners etc.

Don’t forget to checkout if that skirt will suit your bodyshape or not and the different silhouettes you can design for your skirts.

To draft a pattern for skirts, the basic measurement you need are –

Or other ways to sew the waist – like a waist finish for skirts with zipper here.

Related posts :

Opening

In a skirt usually, the opening is kept on the side seams, though center back openings are also common. Center f ont openings are also used, though rarely

Hems

The hem is usually a turned under edge – a 2 1/2 inch extra is added to the bottom edge for this turned under hem

Pockets

Side seam pockets are the most commonly used pockets for skirts. Patch pockets are also used

Waistbands

Usually, a waistband of 1 1/2 to 2 inches is given to skirts. The width will be the waist round ( measure around where you will tie the skirt without any belt) plus 1 inch extra. If there is an extension for a stud or buckle add 1/2 inch extra

Trims

Straight skirt

Skirts are one of the easiest of all clothes you can make for yourself. out of that a straight skirt is the easiest.

Measurements you need to make a pattern for a simple straight skirt block

Waist round ( Where you mean to tie the skirt)
Hip round ( widest part of hip)
Measure distance from waist to hips ( Mostly this is 7 inches ; better measure on your own body. Checkout this post on body measurements for more details)
Length of the skirt from waist

Checkout these posts on how to go about making sewing patterns and how to cut fabric for more details

FRONT SKIRT BLOCK

A-D = 1/4 of hip round
A-C = 1/4 of waist roud + 2″
A-B = 1/2″
A-H = 7″
I-J = 1 1/2″
C-N2 = 2″
N1-N2= 3/4″
M2-N2 = 1 1/2″
M1-M2 = 3/4″
N-P= 3″
M-O= 2.5″

BACK SKIRT BLOCK

A-D = 1/4 of hip round +1/2″
A-C = 1/4 of waist roud + 1.5″
A-B = 3/4″
A-H = 7″
I-J = 2″
K1-K2= 1.5″

A line skirt

This skirt has the shape of alphabet A, tight at the waist and hips and flared at the hem.This classic skirt is a favourite of all those who wear skirts as it is flattering to most body shapes

How to make an Aline skirt pattern

Cut a Front Pattern for Aline skirt

A- B= Length of skirt needed +1/2 “

A- D = 1/4 of waist round + 1/2 inch ease+ 1/2 inch seam allowance

F-H = 1/4 of Hip round + 1/2 inch ease+ 1/2 inch seam allowance

The A line skirt can have a minimum flare of 1 inch more than your hip round and maximum flare of 3-4 inches more than 1/4 of your hip round.

Cut a Back pattern for an Aline skirt

A- B= Length of skirt needed +1/2 “

A- D = 1/4 of Waist round + 3″

F-H = 1/4 of Hip round + 1/2 inch ease+ 1/2 inch seam allowance

Darts in the back pattern

Divide C-D into 3 equal parts and mark M & L as dart points

Dart width – 1 inch each dart ; ie mark 1/2 inch on either side of the darts.

Dart length – 4 inches; join the dart line

For side opening mark 1/6th of waist from F ; For zipper opening – 7.5 inches

Gathered skirt

A simple construction, this skirt has gathers at the waist. You just need a rectangular fabric piece the width of which is three times your waist round and the length however long you want the skirt to be.This measurement can be tweaked as you like it- if you want lesser gathers or you have only so much fabric you can reduce the width accordingly.

Make a waist band for your skirt with elastic inserted and you are done. You can convert the top portion of the skirt piece into a elastic waist band also

Checkout my tutorial to stitch a very easy gathered skirt. But I cannot say anything more than Gertie does in her beautiful tutorial for gathered skirt.

Circle skirts

Circle skirts look wonderful on all girls, big and small, the way they move around the body is beautiful and very flattering; but their construction is not as easy as it looks.

Most of the circle skirts we see are full circle skirts without a seam and they need a very wide fabric to accommodate the pattern. Variations include half and three fourth circle skirts.

Circle skirts can be made in a variety of fabrics like satin, cotton, muslin and organdy, with more formal skirts made with very expensive fabrics like velvet.

This skirt is cut on bias grain of fabric and is tight at the waist and flared at the lower edge.

Let us see measurements for 1/4 circles or 1/2 circles you will need.

Measurements you need to sew the skirt
Length of the skirt
Hip round

Add 4″ to the length needed for waistband seam allowance and hem seam+ some inches for shifting ( 5-6 inches if you are making a very long skirt)

Length of the skirt fabric = Length you need + 4″ + 5″
A=length you have calculated

B= Hip measurement divided by No of 1/4 or 1/2 circles in the skirt + 2″
c = hip measurement divided by no of 1/4 circles in skirt * 2″ divided by 3.14

If you are not sure about how much fabric is needed to sew the circle skirts consider this
For one 1/2 circle skirt piece the width of the fabric should equal A+C and length of the fabric should be (A+C)* 2. The total length needed will be (A+C)* 2 * no of 1/2 circle skirt pieces you will be joining to make the skirt
For a 1/4 circle skirt piece the width of the fabric should be equal to A + C and length also should be equal to A=C

Tips to stitch circle skirts

Hem – One very difficult thing for most people in the making of a circle skirt is a neat hem which is not twisted. The circular shape of the bottom edge of the skirt makes it very difficult to hem. Hand hemming will take a lot of time. What I do is turn 1/4 inch inside and edge stitch once all around the hem.

Cut away extra fabric close to the stitch line (time-consuming but very well worth the time spend for a neat looking hem). Now turn the edge inside once more and edge stitch.

Another tip is to preferably choose a pattern with elastic in the waist rather than one with zipper – then the sewing of a circle skirt will seem all the more easier.

Checkout the post on 16 Ultimate circle skirt patterns from around the world.

Related posts

Handkerchief skirt

The edge of a handkerchief skirt dips down to a point and hangs down like the tip of a handkerchief.

This skirt basically is a square fabric with a waistband and its hem falls down like the corners of a handkerchief, hence the name handkerchief skirt. More and more layers of fabric can be used to increase the visual effect of the number of pointed hems.

As this skirt has an asymmetrical hemline, this skirt can be said to be flattering to all especially short girls. Result is you can look taller if you don this skirt. Ahhh A DIY handkerchief skirt is what I needed to look tall all this time.

You need at least 2 1/4 meters of a 45 inches wide cloth to make this skirt with two layers for an adult. The width of the cloth determines the length of your skirt so wider the cloth you have, longer will be your skirt ie length of one side of this square is double the length of your skirt.

Divide the cloth you have into two squares of equal size
Hem all four sides of the squares – you can decorate the hem with ribbons poms poms tassels etc.

Measure hip round loosely.

Divide the hip measurement by 6.28 – this will give you the radius of the circle you will have to cut out from the center of the squares

Fold the cloth along the middle first 1-2 ; then along 3-4 as per the diagram – you will get a square shape as the second diagram.

A-B = A-C = Radius of the circle you get by dividing your hip round by 6.28. Cut out the portion outside of B-C in a curved line making sure all the points are equal to the radius.

Line up both the square fabric bottom layer right side up on top of Top layer right side up. Pin along the circle hole in the middle aligning both the cloth.

Stitch around the circle edge twice with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Pull down the bottom layer to the back through the center hole

Now the skirt portion is ready ; you can assemble the whole handkerchief skirt by attaching a fabric waistband casing with elastic or a matching elastic waistband directly stitched to the skirt. Make sure to take elastic 1 inch lesser than your waist measurement for a snug fit.

Gored skirt

How to make a 6 panel gored skirt

A gored skirt is a panelled skirt with 3 panels in the front and three panels in the back. All the panels will be of similar size.

A-B = 1 inch;

B-E = Full length needed +1.5 inch seam allowance minus waistband width

Mark these one on both sides of the pattern as shown in the diagram

Join E- D and B- C in a soft curved line

From one piece of cloth cut 2 pieces of panels

Cut 4 more for gored skirt pattern pieces

Novelty gathered (Tiered skirt )

This skirt consists of three tiers of fabric attached to each other. Each tier is attached to the other one with lots of gathers.

The 3 tiered panels of the skirt should be cut as detailed in the diagram

All the tiers are of the same length ; the addition of 2.5 inches in the 1st tier is for the waist band 2 inches and the bottom edge seam allowance 1/2 inch

The 2nd tier has 1/2 inch each seam allowance for upper edge and bottom edge

The 3rd tier should have seam allowance of 1/2 inch for top edge and hem turning of 1 inch

Waist band of this skirt should have elastic inserted – cut elastic 1 inch smaller than the waist round.

Join the short edges of all panels to make 3 round tiers.

Gather the top edges 2nd and third tiers to match the bottom edges of 1st and 2nd tiers respectively. Join all the tiers and voila the skirt is ready.

freeimages.com/ alexander redmon

Tulip hemmed skirt

This is a skirt devoid of a side seam and one part of it over laps the other. It is usually worn over tights by ballet dancers.

How to make a wrap around Tulip hemmed skirt Pattern

Waistband
You need a waistband which will wrap around your body – you can make this out of the same fabric or a ribbon of 1″ width.

Sew a button hole in the Waist band of the front flap to insert the tie.

Pleated skirt

This skirt has pleats made by machines or by hand which adds fullness, grace and beauty.

How to make a pleated skirt pattern

A-H = Total width of cloth taken divided by 4 + 1″ seam allowance = H-I

H-F = 1 3/4″
A-B = 1 1/4″

B-C = Length needed – Waistband width (1″) + 1/4″ seam allowance
Mark F-E same as B-C

F-G ( side opening) = 1/6 waist or 7.5 if using zipper

How to make pleats

Width of pleats = < (B-F – (minus) 1/4 waist ) + 1/2 >divided by 2

photo: fre e images.com/Marília Florêncio Santos

Layered skirt

This skirt may be gathered or circle skirts but consists of two or more layers.

Another way of making it is to layer with ruffles.

To make a ruffled skirt with layers you need 6 pieces of fabric cut as per the diagram below. The first connecting piece will be used as a waist band inserting elastic which is cut exactly the same size of the waist round or a little less.

Waistband

How to draft waist band for your skirt

If using interfacing ( highly recommended to use ) cut it to a width of 1 inch and length of waist round + 2″ overlap (without seam allowance)

How to Make a Cage Skirt

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Cage skirts, also known as a crinoline or hoop skirts, have been a staple in women’s fashion for generations. Their shape has changed with the trends of fashion, and how they are worn has changed most dramatically in the late 20th century. Cage skirts today can be for long or short skirts and are often worn outside the skirt rather than underneath as it has been in the past. Keep reading to learn how to make a cage skirt.

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About This Article

To make a cage skirt, start by measuring from your waist to your ankle for a full length skirt, or from your waist to your knee for a knee length skirt to decide how much fabric you’ll need. Next, sew the short ends of the fabric together to make the skirt, and sew ribbon pieces onto your fabric to hold the boning. Then, fold over an inch of fabric at the top and sew it down before pushing another piece of ribbon through for the drawstring waist. Finally, slide boning material behind the ribbons on the skirt to create the hoops and give the skirt volume. For advice on where to find cheap or free materials to make your cage skirt, read on!

Learning how to make a circle skirt is fun and easy and this great tutorial will give you several options for the hem and waistband.

How to Make a Circle Skirt Supplies

Pin How to Make a Circle Skirt

How to Make a Circle Skirt Pattern

I have a separate tutorial on how to make a circle skirt pattern using a couple of simple calculations including your waist and the skirt lengths. So you don’t have to worry about circle maths, I have inserted a circle skirt calculator that will give you the values you need. You can make a quarter, half, or full circle skirt.

Pin How to Make a Circle Skirt

The circle skirt calculator article will give you a radius and fabric length based on your waist size and desired skirt length. It will show you how to cut out a pattern based on these values.

Pin Quarter

Circle Skirt Patterns

4 Steps to Making a Circle Skirt

There are 4 main steps to making a circle skirt

If you are making a half or a quarter circle skirt, you will be cutting 2 pieces from your pattern. A quarter skirt will just have one piece and will not need a side seam.

Place your pieces with right sides together and stitch on side side seam. The other side will be left open for the zipper.

Pin How to Make a Circle Skirt Sideseam

Finishing the Waist with Bias Tape

Using double sided bias tape is easy for the waist. Best of all it allows you to add a pop of color or a flattering match. If you added seam allowance at the waist when making your pattern, then you will need to remove it. If you didn’t add any seam allowance then you are all set to go!

Purchase ½ inch (12mmm) double-fold bias tape or make your own with my easy how to make bias tape tutuorial.

Pin How to Make a Circle Skirt with Bias

Adding a Waistband

Cutting

Sewing

This is the simplest way to add a waistband to your circle skirt. For a method where the seam allowance is encased, see my tutorial on how to sew a waistband.

Pin How to Make a Circle Skirt with Waistband

The best type of zipper to insert into your circle skirt is an invisible zipper. You can use this whether you have added a waistband or using bias tape along the waist.

In order to finish the waist you would have stitched one side seam and left the other side seam open. We will insert the invisible zipper into this open seam.

Supplies

How to Sew the Zipper

If you are new to sewing an invisible zipper I have a full tutorial with pictures for this. Here is a summary of the steps.

Pin How to Make a Circle Skirt with Zipper

Circle skirts have curved hems that need specialized techniques so they don’t wrinkle or bunch up. The best type of hem to use is a narrow round hem.

Narrow Curved Hem with a Serger

Using a serger to help set your circle skirt hem is quick and gives smooth results every time. It cuts down on time and is especially good for cotton and crisp fabrics.

Narrow Curved Hem without a Serger

If you don’t have a serger, you can still get great results and a smooth hem.

So now you have learned to make a circle skirt you can twirl and twist the day away. Circle skirts are easy to make and best of all flatterning.

More Skirt Patterns

How to Line a Skirt

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A skirt lining ensures that the fabric doesn’t ride up on your legs, which makes the skirt more comfortable. You can create a skirt lining using any type of smooth, lightweight fabric. Create your lining with the same dimensions as your skirt and sew it in before you sew up the back seam and hem the skirt. Adding a lining can be a bit tricky the first time you do it, but with practice this will get easier and easier.

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Tip: If you want your lining to blend in with the garment, opt for lining in the same color as your skirt. If you want the lining to stand out, then opt for a bright color or print as your lining fabric.

How To Make A Wrap Skirt

Learn how to make this lovely wrap skirt. This skirt is an easy sewing project for beginners which will quickly become a wardrobe favourite.

Wrap style skirts, dresses and tops are a go-to in my wardrobe. They are comfortable and flattering pieces that can quickly be dressed up or down.

This is a quick beginner-friendly sewing project that you can make in just a couple of hours. As long as you a few sewing basics like how to thread your sewing machine and how to sew seams you are ready to go!

I love clothing with ruffle details they elevate an outfit without any extra effort. By keeping your fabric a neutral colour the ruffles blend in subtly. Ruffles look intricate but they are really simple to sew.

If you don’t fancy ruffles, no problem! You can make this skirt without the ruffle hem by simply adding length to the skirt and folding the hem up.

I always try to use natural materials, like cotton and linen for my sewing projects. They increase the longevity of my garments because they are made of higher quality fabric. When you spend hours sewing something you want it to last.

For this wrap skirt project, I found some soft black linen at my local fabric store. I love to use linen because it allows the body to breathe but it is naturally antibacterial.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read my full disclosure here.

Why you will love this diy wrap skirt

Materials and equipment required

Pattern piece cutting list

This is a list of the required pattern pieces you need to cut out as shown in the instructions below. This list is a quick cutting guide for you to refer back to.

How to measure yourself to draft the pattern pieces

Begin by measuring your waist and the widest part of your hips with your tailors tape. Have a notepad handy to jot these numbers down for the next steps.

How to draft the wrap skirt pattern pieces

Starting with the back skirt piece, lay your fabric in half lengthwise on a flat surface.

Using you tape measure mark ¼ of your waist measurement from the folded edge. This is the waist edge of the back skirt piece.

At the waist edge along the fold, measure 3cm down and mark. This will be the curve of your waist edge.

Draw a curved line from the new waist edge mark to the side seam point. This is the waist edge of your back skirt piece.

Next, measure down 35cm from the waist edge curve and mark. This is the hemline point of your back skirt piece.

Tip: If you would like your skirt length to be longer or shorter this is the time to adjust the 35cm measurement.

At the hem measure out ¼ your hip measurement plus 5cm from the folded edge. Make a small mark. This is the hem side seam point.

Head back to the folded edge hemline point, measure down 3cm. This will be the new centre back hem point.

From the new centre back hem point draw a slightly curved line to the hem side seam point. You should now have the hemline chalked in.

Join the side seam by connecting the hem line and waist line points together with a straight line.

Draw around the chalked lines 1cm to add seam allowance. Cut out.

Moving onto the front skirt pieces.

Keep your fabric on the fold. Unfold the back skirt piece and place on top of the folded fabric. Make sure its flat then trace around the outer edges.

Find the centre of the skirt, mark this on the hemline. On the right side draw a curve from the centre mark up to the waist edge. This is creating the front panel curve shaped.

Add a 1cm seam to the curved line only and cut out both layer of fabric. You will now have a pair of fronts.

How to sew this wrap skirt together

At this point you will need to sew the skirt fronts and back together. Pin the front and back side seams together making sure the right sides of the fabric are facing each other.

Tip: I will refer to this as ‘right sides together’ throughout the rest of this tutorial.

Sew both side seams with a 1cm seam allowance. Finish the raw edges with a serger or zigzag stitch.

How to work out the waistband size

Measure along the skirts waistline and jot this measurement down.

Your skirt waist line length x 4 = the length required for your waistband and tie.

E.g. 80cm x 4 = 320cm

Here is the equation to work out your waist tie pattern size.

Chalk your waistband panels 6cm wide x ½ waistband length ( ½ measurement as above) + 2cm for seam allowance.

Cut out x 2 pairs because you need 4 waist tie panels altogether.

How to work out the ruffle size

Now you need to measure the hemline and jot this down.

Here is the equation to work out your ruffle size.

Hem length x 2 = gathered frill length.

This will mean the ruffle is double the length of the hem. When it is gathered up it will have a nice amount of volume.

Keeping your fabric on the fold. Chalk out a rectangle that is 14cm wide x ½ your gathered frill length ( ½ measurement as above) + 2cm for seam allowance.

This will be a long pattern piece, which is why we needed to divide this into 2 panels so it wasn’t super long. This will be sewn together to make a long piece again.

Next you need to curve one end of the ruffles. This creates the pretty narrowing curve detail as the ruffle gets closer to the waist line. This helps stop the ruffle from being bulky and too big. Cut these out. You will have 2 ruffle pieces.

Pin the ruffles at the straight edges, right sides together, to connect them into one long piece. Neaten the raw edges.

Hem the ruffle by turning the bottom edge up 5mm twice and stitching down. The hem edge is the side that is curved.

Gather stitch along the straight edge of the ruffle. If this is new to you please read my full tutorial explain how to sew ruffles before continuing.

Pin the gathered ruffle to the bottom of the skirt, right sides together. Make sure to make this as even as you can.

Sew together with a 1cm seam allowance and neaten the raw edges.

How to attach the waistband to the wrap skirt

Join the waistbands together at one end. You will have 2 sets to join separately making a pair.

Leave ¼ of the waistband hanging over one side of the skirt waist edge and pop in a pin to hold its place. There will be less length on the other side to allow for wrapping around your waist.

Test this by wrapping the tie around your waist. When you figure this out pop in a pin on each side to indicate where the ties meet your skirt waistline.

Pin the waistbands right sides together along one edge. This will close the top of the waistband off.

Pin the two shorter ends (ends of the ties)

Also pin along to where you placed the pins earlier (where the waistband and skirt meets).

Sew around with a 1cm seam allowance. Only sew to the marked pin points and no futher.

Trim the corners of the ties and turn to the right sides. Wiggle out to corners to get the sharp and press with an iron.

Attach one side of the waistband to the skirt waist edge, right sides together. It should fit snugly between the tie points.

On the inside waistband, fold under 1cm and pin in place on the inside of the skirt. This will hide any visible seams. Edge stitch down to close.

Give your skirt a full press with an iron and you are finished!

Well done, I hope you enjoyed making this fun wrap skirt project with me.

Please don’t forget to leave a review below if you found this helpful!

Tag me on Instagram @makylacreates

DIY Wrap Skirt

Learn how to make a wrap skirt with this simple tutorial. This wrap skirt will quickly become a wardrobe favourite over the warmer months, it’s a perfect gift idea and overall just an easy sewing project for beginners.

Materials

Tools

Instructions

Notes

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