How to make a skater skirt
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| Skater skirt |
Love, love love skater skirts that are popping up all over. A proper skater skirt would be a whole lot shorter than this skirt but I don’t wear very short skirts. If you are brave enough to wear a short skirt, then simply alter the length of the pattern.
Also, this is a semi circle skirt and not a full circle skirt. A
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Fold a piece of newspaper from a corner
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full circle skirt can be voluminous around the hips. Not great for pear shapes like me.
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| Cut skirt and waistband |
You want to be looking for a fairly firm fabric as anything flimsy will wilt and not hold the shape. But you also don’t want anything overly dense which will stick out too much. I used something called Minimatt. Rather a strange name I know, but that’s what they called it in the fabric shop.
This is not an easy project as you have to set a zip. I used to loathe having to sew a zip but I’m going to show how I set a zipper in this link – how to set a zipper. I hand sew the zip in place first which makes a huge difference.
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| Skater Skirt Pattern |
You can also look for tutorials on the Internet. There are plenty really good ones. Failing that, you can attach the skirt to a piece of un-bendable elastic-
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| Stitches sides together |
You need: –
sewing machine
fabric
matching thread
sewing scissors
pins
invisible zip
zipper foot for sewing machine
You do: –
First up you need a pattern. I am a size medium or UK dress size 10. You can use my pattern and make small tweaks to accommodate a larger or smaller waist. And as said at the beginning, you can make this skirt shorter or longer by altering the length.
The only suggestion I will make is to rather cut the waist a bit on the small side. It’s far easier to cut away fabric than make it too big and have to gather it. Look at the pattern if this doesn’t make sense to you.
Take your measurements and make a pattern as per the pattern picture. Cut a pattern in newspaper. Pin pattern to fabric.
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| Press seams flat |
Cut skirt and waistband from your fabric.
Sew side seams bearing in mind you will be fitting a zip to the top end of one side.
Next set your zip. See how to set a zip here.
Press seams flat. Now slip the skirt over your head and check to see how it fits in your waist.
If it’s too loose, you can gently gather it. If it’s too small, cut away a tiny bit at a time until it’s
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| Pin and sew waistband |
right.
Pin your waistband to the skirt waist. Stitch waistband to skirt. Fold waist band over and either hand sew or machine sew the waistband in place. Bear in mind the waist band must overlap slightly near the zipper so you can close it with a fastening.
Finish closure with a button if you know how to make button holes, or even easier – and more
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| Sew hem |
attractive in my view – use a press stud.
And that’s your skater skirt complete.
For more FREE sewing patterns and ideas to re-style old clothes visit the Greenie galleries at the top of the page.
See you next week,
Greenie.
I love this skirt pattern! I have made one from medium weight linen, which works beautifully ( although wrinkly ) and one out of a medium cotton knit. Great pattern!!
Thanks Patricia.
Hopefully I can post ideas more to inspire you.
All the best.
Greenie.
Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! This is exactly the pattern I’ve been looking for for the last 10 years. Thank-you. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.
Question: “attach the skirt to a piece of un-bendable elastic-” What is the purpose of this & at when should I do it?
May your day be profitable.
Shalom, Tonna
Hi Tonna
I didn’t use non-bend elastic in this tutorial. If you don’t want to make a waistband.
Then you need to make the waist section wider so you can slip it over your head. Attach a non-bend elastic in lieu of a waistband.
Check out this tutorial – http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/elastic-waist-skirt-tutorial
All the best.
Greenie.
Dear Greenie, Thank-you. Sorry, it was very late when I found your pattern. Now it makes sense.
Again, thanks for your time,
Tonna
what is the yardage needed to make a large skirt ?
Hi Jenny, I’m sorry but I really don’t know.
Try this link –
All the best,
Greenie.
i l.o.v.e this skirt pattern were do you get your fabric?
In South Africa. It’s a Shwe Shwe print in black.
Hi Greenie,
I am going to try this pattern since I am having a very difficult time finding a red skirt in stores.
So my question is….since I am a larger size, will I have to increase the length from 80cm to more like 90 or 100 cm to accommodate for the larger waist cut out…
Hoping you can help! I look forward to pulling out my sewing machine and shopping for some fabric.
Thanks in advance,
Lisa StP
Hi Lisa
Let me know how it goes. You can share a pic on the Facebook page.
The things is, us humans are all so different in size. Even if you were the exact same hip size as me you could have a longer waist or shorter legs. My advice is play it safe and make it longer. You can ALWAYS trim away excess length and make your shirt shorter. But you cannott add length afterwards.
All the best,
Greenie.
Do you have a newsletter?
Hi Shirley
Sadly no.
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All the best.
Greenie.