NY Gal in Steelerland: How to make a skirt!

((we will just ignore the fact that I havent posted in months, okay? Great now we can move on...)
This is an easy skirt to make, great project for new sewers. It is a cute full skirt that is perfect for spring and summer, if the little girl is a skipper, even better!

Items needed-
42-45 inch wide material, light weight cotton
¾ inch elastic NON ROLL
GOOD SCISSORS
Optional-
Ribbon, trim, or anything else to embellish the skirt.

You are using ONE PIECE of fabric for this skirt. The width off the bolt is the width you are using, from raw edge to raw edge. This is a great project to use remnants. I love me some remnants because they are cheap and great for baby/toddler sizes.

You may want to iron your fabric before starting. This usually makes cutting and pinning easier, but that’s up to you.

As for length, figure out the length you want and add 2 inches and then cut. My models are asleep at the current time so I measured a skirt and then went from there.

I like to mark my measurements off with tailor’s chalk but not necessary.
So cut your fabric to get your one long strip.

Now you are going to fold the fabric, right sides together*, and pin along the sides. I pin the long way as you can see but I remove the pins as I go. It is just a matter of preference. If you pin across, you aren’t suppose to sew over the pins, but people do it.
*that means the pretty proper sides face each other 

You are going to sew up this side with a ½ inch seam. Use the markers on your machine to guide ya, which is what they are there for. You are just going to use a plain ole straight stitch. Make sure to back stitch at the beginning and end which reinforces the stitches.

So now you basically have a tube of fabric. At this point, you can finish the seam allowances, aka the edges. You can do this for a more finished look plus it stops the fabric from fraying. If you do finish the allowances, you simply use a zig zag stitch right now the edge. If I was selling this skirt, I would finish them but I will leave them alone right now.

Now press open your seam allowance. You may ask why we do this, well I am glad you asked. You want to make sure they are nice and flat because we will be making a casing and hemming. Pressing them just makes it easier when folding and sewing the rest of the skirt.

Now turn down the top of the skirt ½” towards the wrong side. I usually pin and press, but that is just how I roll. I find that nice crisp pressing makes things easier.

Now you are going to take that new folded top and fold it down again, this time 1”. You are making a casing for the elastic. The first fold was to hide the raw edge and the second fold was to make the casing for the waist. Casing meaning the actual part that will hold the elastic.

You will be stitching the very bottom edge of this fold so place your pins accordingly.
Start on either side of the seam allowance and stitch all around BUT stop 2 inches before your starting point. Once again make sure you back stitch when you start and finish.

Now attach a safety pin to the elastic and fish it through the opening and all throughout the waistband casing.

Once it is all the way through, overlap the ends about an inch. You are going to join the two ends together by stitching a box. You can do this by hand or on the machine. Trim and tuck it back into the casing. Finish stitching the casing closed.