Tuesday, 6 August 2013

Sew Your Own RaRa Mini Skirt

   DIY - Sew Your Own RaRa Mini Skirt


This is a patternless tutorial for a  RaRa style mini shirt with 2 gathered tiers and an elasticated waist.

Materials:
80cm spotty cotton fabric (114cm wide)
30cm plain cotton fabric (114cm wide)
75cm of ½” wide elastic
Matching thread
Sewing machine
Pins/safety pin
Tape measure/ruler
Scissors/tailors chalk
Iron


Step 1: Cut - With the width of the fabric folded in half, cut a 20cm long strip and a 10cm long strip from the plain fabric and 4 equal 20cm long sections from the spotty fabric.


      

Step 2: Join Tiers - Join 2 of the spotty 20cm strips together to make a very long strip of fabric - place the right sides together, pin and sew using a 1.5 cm seam allowance. Repeat for the other 2 spotty sections.

Step 3: Gather - To gather stitch using the longest straight stitch on your sewing machine (no.4) and stitch about 10mm from the edge of the fabric. Do not backstitch and leave the thread ends long. Stitch along each edge of one spotty strip, sewing 2 lines through 1 layer of fabric - fold the other spotty strip in half and sew along the raw edge, sewing through 2 layers at once.
Gently pull up one of the thread ends to gather the fabric, so the strip ends up the same width as the 10cm long strip of plain fabric (114cm.)



Step 4: Bottom Tier - We are going to make the skirt from the bottom up, you are going to need lots of pins! * Remember to change the sewing machine back to a normal stitch length*
Pin both sides of the section which isn’t folded with right sides together to the 10cm long plain strip of fabric, sandwich the plain fabric between the gathered spotty fabric edges - the plain fabric should stay flat and the pins should be at 90 degree angles to the fabric edge. Sew all the way along using a 1.5cm seam allowance. Turn the fabric through (this is sometimes called ‘bagging out’) and there you have the bottom tier of your skirt!


Step 5: Top Tier - Pin the second (folded) tier of your skirt in place on the right side of the skirt, line up the top of the plain 10cm section with the gathered spotty edge, pin the 20cm long plain strip of fabric to the inside - this is going to be a double stitched seam. Stitch along through all 4 layers of fabric using a 1.5cm seam allowance. Un pin and flip the 20cm top section over the seam allowances and gathering to cover the raw edges, sew along the seam again.



Step 6: Back Seam - Because the back seam edges are the ‘selvedge’ edges of the fabric they do not need finishing (handy!) With right sides together line up the tiers and pin the sides of the skirt together. Sew using a 1.5cm seam allowance, iron the back seam open.

Step 7: Waist - Using an iron make a double fold on the top edge of the fabric, pin and sew to form a channel for the elastic. When sewing leave a 5cm gap for the elastic to go in through. Attach the elastic to a large safety pin and pull it through. Adjust the elastic to fit, tie it off and sew the gap closed.

Decorate your skirt with any trimmings you fancy and style with leggings or thick tights, heels or trainers.

Anna Vickery 2013 Ó

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