DIY - Sew Your Own Full Skirt

Today we had a great time making skirts at the Millie Moon shop in Wells. Here is the DIY tutorial of how to make the skirt, we did it a little differently with pleats instead of gathers and in fabulous cherry and elephant prints! 

This is a patternless skirt tutorial with a fitted waistband and a full skirt with pockets and a zip to the centre back.

Equipment needed: sewing machine, zipper foot, tape measure, needle and thread, scissors and chalk.
Materials: 2 metres of 112cm wide fabric (Millie moons fabrics are perfect for this) 2 metres of bias binding, a concealed zip, thread.

 Step 1: lay out your folded fabric on the table, with the fold (selvedge to selvedge) running along the edge of the table.

Step 2:  Measure your waist in inches and add one inch to this number. For example a 30 inch waist will need a 31 inch waistband.

Step 3: draw out the long rectangle on the fabric. 5 inches by half your waistband measurement. For example a 31inch waistband will be 15.5 inches long on the folded fabric. Then cut this out.

 Step 4: cutting the skirt. Still with the fold of the fabric on the edge of the table, place your hand on the fabric edge and draw around this with the chalk for your pockets. The curve of the pocket will start 2 inches down from the fold and will look like a 'p' shape. Then cut along the whole fold length of the fabric that is on the edge of the table.

Step 5: fold the fabric in half and cut out the second pocket. Also cut the centre back opening by cutting along the halfway fold THROUGH ONE LAYER ONLY!

 Step 6: Sew your pockets and side seams together.

Step 7: with the bias binding sew around the pocket seams that have just sewn so they look neat and tidy. Alternatively this can be overlocked.

Step 8: if you are gathering your skirt, sew a runnng stitch along the top waistband edge to gather the skirt. Pin this to the waistband.
If you are pleating (like we did today) you need to pin your waistband to either end of the skirt and evenly pin pleats to the waistband ready to sew.

Step 9: sew your waistband to your skirt. Leave a smooth inch either end so the zip doesn't have too much bulk around it.
Then fold the waistband over and pin to cover the waist seam. Hand stitch this in place.

 This is how your skirt will look so far. 

Step 10: time to sew your zip. A concealed zip is best to use with this skirt and you start off by sewing the zip to the left hand edge. Then fasten the zip and mark the waist seam so you can line up waistband. Sew the other side, then the back seam together. (we will cover zips in detail at a later date). To finish fold over the tops of the zips behind the seams.

 You can hem the skirt by turning under or binding to finish. And there you have your skirt!  I would love to see photos of your skirts on, hear your feedback and would be happy to answer any questions you have.
Bias binding and Zips can be purchased through Jaycotts
And fabulous printed fabrics that are the perfect width from Millie Moon.