Sewing a Circle Skirt
Sewing a circle skirt is very easy and the look of this style of skirt is so pretty in little kids and very flattering for adults! The skirt above is a full circle, that means 360 degrees radius. There are no seams. I cut a whole circle. See more below.
This is a fast sewing project because the skirt does not have a zipper or buttons. I like to add an elastic to the waist and now days you can find pretty elastics so they can be exposed and not under a waistband. The end result at the waist is a very slim and flattering waist band only with the elastic.
What do you need to sew a Full Skirt?
You need enough fabric to fold it four times. If it is a skirt for a baby, a yard or less will be plenty. If it is a skirt for an adult, measure the length you need and double or triple that measurement, that is how much you will need. For a full skirt for an adult the best fabrics to use are fabrics that are very wide, 54” or more. I also recommend soft fabrics, like light to medium weight knits, silks, chiffons, crepes, light cottons, satins.
I will add here the amount of fabric and measurements I used for this skirt for a little girl that is 1 - 2 years old.
One yard or meter of fabric. I used a medium weight jersey knit. (there was a lot of left over fabric)
One inch elastic.
Thread.
Sewing Machine.
Scissors.
Measurements: Waist circumference and length of desired skirt.
The fabric I used for this skirt is a medium weight jersey knit from Hawthorne Supply Co. The designer is Jamie Alexander and her fabric collection: La Ville Rose.
How to Fold the Fabric
How to cut the skirt
To cut a full skirt you need two measurements:
Waist for a 1-2 year old: 20” plus I added 2” of ease = 22
Then I divide the 22 by 2 = 11 inches.
The 11 inches then is divided by Pi (which is 3.142”) 11/ 3.142”= 3.5”
The 3.5” measurement will be used to find the waist line placement from the corner of the fabric when is folded, more below.
Length of skirt for a 1-2 year old: I did 10” with seam allowance.
The fabric has to be folded so on both sides there will not be any seams (see pictures above) Fold the fabric first on the width then toward the length of the fabric and then work from the corner to start marking the measurements:
Mark 3.5” from the corner down and mark a line there, this is going to be the waist line. Then mark the length of the skirt from the waist line down and that is going to be the hem line. You have to mark with a ruler or measuring tape moving it until you have marked across the width of the fabric. See the white lines. I chose to mark on the right side of the fabric because I am using a sliver of soap as my chalk. The soap line will disappear with the steam of the iron. I personally love to use slivers of soaps to mark on my fabrics. It is a good use for all those pieces of soap left in the shower!
This is how it looks after cutting on the marked lines. You only need to mark the waist line and the hem line. Remember that your fabric is folded in a way that right now you have 4 layers of fabric with no seams on any of the sides. Sometimes a full skirt can be done with one side seam.
In the picture on the right you can see the whole circle you now have after cutting the skirt with the fabric folded 4 times or in four layers with no side seams.
Length of skirt 10” I added just a 1/4” of inch more.
Waist from corner to corner is around 10” but if you measure following the curve of the waist line it will be around 11 to 12”
The Elastic
The length of the elastic has to be less than the waist measurement. I cut my elastic 10” (the elastic is folded in the picture) but I sew the elastic at 8.75” so the circumference of the elastic was 17.5” This measurement will go to fit the waist line of the skirt that is around 22”
The elastic is smaller than the waist of the skirt.
Sewing the Elastic
The elastic and the skirt waist line are divided in 4 points. I place a pin on each point.
To divided it on fourths just fold the elastic and the skirt first on half then again another half and mark the 4 points of each half. These points will be the references and the guides to join the elastic to the skirt.
Pin each point of the elastic to each point of the skirt. Keeping the elastic secured to the skirt on 4 points and ready to be stitched next.
See int the last picture above how I serged the edge of the skirt waist line. This is optional if you have a serger.
I sew the elastic to the skirt with a zig zag stitch. When sewing the elastic to the skirt you will need to stretch the elastic while you sew. Remember that the elastic is smaller than the skirt. This is why having the 4 points marked will be helpful because you will know exactly how much to stretch the elastic between each pin as you sew the elastic. Remember to keep the needle down grabbing the fabric and the elastic when you need to stretch the elastic. This part might require a bit of practice but just go very slow. I am sure you can do it!
If you wonder how much of the fabric to put under the elastic I do around a 1/5”. I do not mark a line to follow but you could mark a guiding line on the right side of the fabric where you can match the edge the elastic as you sew.
The skirt has the elastic stitched on. I like to increase the width of the zig zag and lower the length of the zig zag. I recommend practicing on a scrap of fabric to find the best stitch width and length.
The Hem
To hem the skirt I first serged the edge, folded aroung 1/5” and topstitched it with a zig zag stitch. I used zig zag to prevent the knit from stretching. But if you have a rolled hem stitch feature in your machine you could do that stitch.
Here it is a closer view of the stitches at the waist where the elastic was sewn.
And your skirt is done!! This is an easy project to sew. For a beginner it might be slightly difficult the part when attaching the elastic to the waist line of the skirt. But give it a try and you will be very happy to see how easy it is to make this skirt!
I hope this blog was helpful to you and motivates you to give it a try to make a full skirt!! I love the look of a full skirt and how flowy it looks and feel!
A Full Skirt with Tulle
I made this skirt for my little grand niece . I followed all the steps above but the difference is that I added a layer of tulle that I gathered at the waist before adding it to the base polka dot fabric. I also cut extra panels for the tulle so there was more fabric around to gather at the waist to give it a fuller look. The tulle had a few seams in there where I had to add the panels.
Watch a short video of some of the process in making the tulle skirt, it was a fun sewing project!
A Polka Dot Skirt
Here is a full skirt I made for me! This skirt has an elastic waist band but I made a nice belt to go over the elastic. I cut the belt long so I could tie it twice around my waist and make a bow. When I took this picture the hem was not done yet. In another blog I will show you how to hem a skirt like this one with a nice rolled hem!
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Please let me know if you have any questions. I would be very happy to help!
Isabel
Enjoy this very short video showing you how using soap slivers to mark fabrics work great because the markings disappear when the heat and the steam of an iron is applied! Keep all those little pieces of soap! This is a trick my mom taught me long time ago!