Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom by Jamie Sanders

You are here: Home / fashion tutorials / Simple Skirt Tutorial with Options for 3 Different Looks

· 83 Comments

Simple Skirt Tutorial with Options for 3 Different Looks

fashion tutorials· Free Sewing Patterns· kid style· Sewing· Tutorials

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

Pin
Share
Flip
Email

Want to learn how to sew a skirt?  This Simple Skirt Tutorial with Options for 3 Different Looks is perfect as a beginner sewing project.

(Want more free patterns and easy tutorials? Be sure to check out my free patterns and tutorials page here.)

how to sew a skirt

My daughter loves to wear skirts and dresses.  (She also loves posing for pictures, lol!)

MY LATEST VIDEOS

I’ve been working for the last few days on a few new skirts for her spring and summer wardrobe.  These skirts are very simple in style, but I can easily change up the look with a few tweaks to the basic skirt.

[irp]

I loved all these skirts, and am so excited to share this tutorial with you! (Don’t you just love all these bright and cheery colors for Spring?)

Basic Skirt Tutorial:

Things to know about these skirts- The reason this skirt is so easy to make is that you are using the width of the fabric to make the skirt.  Most cotton fabrics are 40 to 44 inches wide, which is just the right amount of fabric for a simple gathered skirt.  In my opinion, this skirt is best for size girls in the 2 to 10 size range.  Anything smaller or larger, you would need to adjust the amount of fabric used.

Materials needed:

  • Main skirt panel fabric (+/- 1/3 yard for main skirt panel ) (amount needed will depend on desired length)
  • Fabric for contrasting band (about 1/4 yard)
  • Coordinating thread
  • 3/4 inch elastic
  • Ruler
  • Scissors
  • iron

Option 1.  Simple Skirt with Contrasting Band:

Step 1:  Get your measurements.  

You need:  

Desired skirt length: ____________

Determine the length you want your skirt.  Measure from right below the belly button to where you want the the skirt to end.  (The contrasting border fabric will be 3 inches tall.)

Measurement A: _______________

Your desired skirt length measurement – the 3 inch contrast band  =  measurement “A”

Measurement B: _______________

Measurement “A” + 1.75 inches = measurement B (this is the height/length needed for main skirt panel)

Waist Measurement: ____________   (for the elastic)

You will cut the elastic to waist measurement plus 1 inch

The contrasting fabric border will be 6.5 inches tall.

Step 2: Cut your fabric.

1.  Fold the main skirt fabric selvage to selvage and cut the width of the fabric (40 to 44 inches unfolded) by measurement B.

2. Fold the contrasting border fabric the same way and cut the width of the fabric by 6 1/2 inches high.  Be sure to cut off the selvages.

Step 3: Assemble the skirt.

1.  Fold the border fabric in half longways and iron.

2.  Lay your main skirt fabric out right side up, line up raw edges of border fabric and raw edges main fabric.  Pin and sew 1/4 inch from edge.

3.  Finish the seam edge with pinking shears, a zig zag stitch on your sewing machine or with a serger.  Press the seam flat with finished edge pointing up.

4.  With right sides of the skirt together, line up the raw edges of the side seams.  Pin and sew.  Finish the seam and press flat with iron.

Step 4: Make the skirt casing.

1. To make the elastic casing, turn the skirt inside out.  Fold top edge of skirt over 1/4 inch and press with iron.  Fold the edge over another 1.25 inches and press again.

2.  Sew along the bottom edge of casing, about 1/8 inch from the edge.  Leave a 1 1/2 inch opening in the casing to thread the elastic through.

3.  Cut a piece of elastic to your waist measurement plus 1 inch.

4. Using a safety pin, thread elastic through the casing.  At this point I like to safety pin the elastic together and have my daughter try on the skirt.  Once you are certain it fits, sew the elastic together using a tight zig zag.

5. Trim off any excess elastic and sew the casing closed.

Step 5: Top stitch.

Top stitch around the edge of the contrasting border of the skirt and you are done!

[irp]

Option 2.  Simple skirt with Ruffled Bottom

Materials needed:

-The same as option one, except you will need 3/8 yard for the contrasting fabric.

1.  For this skirt, cut the main fabric panel the same as option one and cut two 6 1/2 inch strips from your contrasting fabric.

2.  Iron the border fabric in half.

3.  Unfold the ironed border fabric and sew the strips, right sides together, to make one big circle.  Fold the fabric back the way you ironed it.

4.  Line up the side seam of the skirt, pin and sew.  Finish this seam with pinking shears, a zig zag stitch on your sewing machine or with a serger.
5.  Next, set your sewing machine to the longest stitch length and sew a gathering stitch 1/4 inch from the raw edge of the border fabric.

6.  While holding the fabric firmly, pull on the top thread to ruffle the fabric.  Distribute the ruffles evenly along the circle of fabric.  Keep pulling the thread and distributing the ruffles until the ruffled circle is the same width of the skirt fabric.

I didn’t get a picture of the ruffling step, but this is how fabric will ruffle up when you pull the top thread.

7.  Lay the skirt flat, line up the raw edges of the ruffle and the skirt.  Pin and sew the ruffles to the skirt.  Just sew right over the gathering stitch.  Finish this seam and iron flat so the finished seam is pointing towards the top of the skirt.

 

8.  Flip the skirt right side out and top stitch along the top of the ruffle.

 

[irp]

Option 3.  Simple Skirt with Fabric Belt.

Materials needed:
-Same as skirt option 2, but you will need an additional 1/ yard for the belt.

1.  Cut your skirt and border fabric the same as option 1.  Cut main skirt fabric in half so you have a front and back piece.  Cut 2 strips of fabric 27 inches long by 2.75 tall.  (If you want a wider belt, add an inch or two to the height of the belt pieces.)

2.  Iron the fabric ties in half and cut an angle at one end of the fabric ties as shown.  Sew along the edges of the ties, flip them right side out and iron flat.

3.  Take the 2 skirt pieces, fold top edge over 1/4 inch and iron.  Fold over another 1 1/4 inch and iron again.

4.  Unfold the 1 1/4 inch ironed edge and line the raw edges of the belt and skirt fabric as shown.  Do this for both belt pieces.

5.  Line up the skirt sides and pin in place.

6.  See how the belt is sandwiched between the skirt pieces?

7.  Sew the side seams and finish the edges with your pinking shears, zig zag stitch on your sewing machine or with a serger.

8.  Create the skirt casing like you did in skirt option one.  Go slow and be very careful not to stitch into the fabric belt.  I sewed right up to the edge of the belt, stopped my machine with the needle in, lifted the presser foot and flipped the belt tho opposite direction, then kept sewing.

8.  Insert the elastic and sew the ends together.  Close the casing.

9.  Top stitch around the ruffle.

Ta Da!  You’ve made a new skirt!  Now go find someone to try it on so you can admire your sewing skills!

How to sew a skirt. Easy Basic Skirt tutorial, perfect for a beginner sewist! This simple skirt tutorial has easy options for 3 different looks!

Pin
Share
Flip
Email

Comments

  1. I LOVE these skirts. You instructions are great too – I'm a novice but I feel like I could actually bang one of these out 🙂

    Reply

  2. Thank you!! I just went through my fabric stash last weekend and found some remnants that I wanted to use for skirts, but I didn't have a skirt pattern. This is perfect! And, I love all 3 options! Your fabrics are beautiful.

    Reply

    • Am I reading this tutorial right—one width of fabric for the main skirt? Also what width did you make the casing? Thanks

      Reply

      • Yes, one width, which is around 44 inches, will be wide enough to fit a child from size 2 to about 10 (of course this will be much fuller on a 2 yr old vrs a 10 yr old.) The casing is not separate from the skirt piece, so it is the same width. (for reference, my daughter was 5 in the photos.)

        Good luck!

        Looking back over this tutorial (I made it 5 years ago and it was one of my firsts) I can tell it is not the easiest to understand and I am feeling inspired to create a video tutorial, so stay tuned!

        Reply

        • Hello, thanks so much for sharing, please am new to seeing, please I would suggest pictures for every stage, for clear understanding. Please. And like you said a video maybe. Thanks so much.

          Reply

          • New to sewing I meant to say. I would really love to try this skirts for my daughter.

          • I was having website problems this morning, you may have visited at the exact time that none of my images were loading! I do want to make a video of this tutorial though… It’s on my list of things to do.

  3. Jamie — Thank You ! This is great ! My granddaughters will just love them – – and instead of them making pillow cases — we can make them their own skirts !!

    Cheers.
    Karen

    Reply

  5. Very great tutorial!!!!!! I sooo want to make skirts now!

    If you come back at The DIY Dreamer, you'll see that I had a linky party. I would love it if you shared this 🙂

    Reply

  6. Sweet skirt and great tutorial and I love the fabrics you used! Now, if I only a wee lass to make one for.

    Reply

  11. I love these! I pinned them to my sewing board for future reference. Can you tell me how you got the cool thing at the bottom of your post with the links to GFC. etc? I like it!

    Reply

  17. I've made lots of the skirts with the elastic waist for my granddaughter. She loved them. I'm a follower of yours now and would love to have you come by and visit and follow back. Best wishes. Linda

    Reply

  19. These skirts are really cute! Just one extra thing to add for ease, stitch in the ditch of the side seams at the waist band to hold the elastic in place. This prevents the elastic from twisting when you wash it.

    Reply

  23. Love these skirts and the fabric you used. I am going to pin this for spring inspiration for my girls.Thanks!!

    Reply

  24. I'll take all three – oh wait, they probably won't fit!! These are adorable, and your tutorial is so good. Love your fabric choices. Thanks for sharing all your creative inspiration at Sunday's Best.

    Reply

  25. These skirts are so cute and such fun fabric colors! We are so glad that you linked up to "Strut Your Stuff Saturday." Hope you'll be back next week! -The Sisters

    Reply

  28. Very cute, I will have to give this a try soon:) I have that same Amy Butler pink fabric by the way! I'm your newest follower.
    April

    Reply

  34. Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing! I love the variation with the belt, will definitely have to try that one. It's different than the other skirts I've made for my daughter's summer wardrobe. Found you on Somewhat Simple.

    Reply

  45. I dont know how to sew but I have always wanted to learn to make my 5 year old daughter this cute little simple skirts and dresses and now I have a grand daughter so I really want to learn … I will give it a try and see what turns out .. Your Tutorials are such a great help. May God keep blessing the work of your hands so you may keep on blessing others.
    Diana

    Reply

  50. I had no idea it was so easy to make a skirt! Just finished one, can't wait to try the next ones. Thanks so much for the awesome tutorial!

    Reply

  52. I love the skirt.
    But I not smart enough to know how to size it.
    I need it for 5 to 8 year old.
    Is this size you have in the Tutorial that size?
    Thank you so much for your help.
    Bev in Ohio

    Reply

  53. I love the skirt.
    But I not smart enough to know how to size it.
    I need it for 5 to 8 year old.
    Is this size you have in the Tutorial that size?
    Thank you so much for your help.
    Bev in Ohio

    Reply

  57. Love this tutorial! So easy to follow. Although, I found when making my second one that I preferred to sew my casing for the elastic while my skirt was a flat surface, then sew the seams together. Thoughts?

    Reply

  63. The last skirt tutorial was incredibly confusing to me after having done the first very easily. Please include more pictures in the future! I have no clue when I should do the ruffle bottom since you didn't mention it in the last tutorial at all (even though I know it's in the second). When I referenced the second tutorial, I was still stumped. More pictures in the future please! I'm getting frustrated wasting fabric and figuring out something that was shared as 'simple!'! Thank you for sharing the first, but I'd love to add variety with the other patterns to my daughter's wardrobe!

    Reply

  66. Great tutorial!!! I'm teaching my granddaughter how to sew that this tutorial was so easy for her to follow and create her own skirt! Thanks so much for sharing your pattern/tutorial!

    Reply

  67. I love this tutorial and the third option is my fave! I have two girls and it would be fun to make some of these!! I am still a beginner but you make it sound and look so easy!! Ha!

    Do you think this would work with a light-weight corduroy? I need some fabric that will be a little warm since it is a cold winter.

    Reply

    • I think option 1 would be best with corduroy. You could do a ruffle with corduroy (as shown in option 2 and 3) but it would be a bit more difficult to create the ruffle on the bottom since corduroy is thicker than quilting cotton.

      Reply

  68. Love these skirts and fabrics. My daughters are grown now but I would have loved to make these for them when they were little. Your directions are great also. I am just getting back into sewing. I would love to make one for myself to wear for tennis. Do you know how I would adjust the measurements? Thank you for any suggestions 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Cameron Meerdink Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

★ Newsletter Signup:

Sewing Patterns, Recipes & more emailed weekly!

Terms of Use

You may share 1 photo and up to 3 lines of text, under the condition that proper credit is given to scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com.
(Must be a clear link back to shared content & do not remove watermark.) For more information see: Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy

Pin
Share
Tweet
Flip
Email