My First Circle Skirt! Tutorial

Well my mom and I went shopping the other day at Joanns and found BEAUTIFUL fabric in the clearance section for only 5-7$ a yard. We were pretty proud =) So I wanted to make a circle skirt! You know like the ones straight from the 50's. aka a poodle skirt. Why? because they are awesome. SO! I found a good basic pattern here but it didn't have pictures really so I took some along the way for you all!

Step 1: Buy some awesome fabric. Mine is very sheer and quite heavy
Step 2: Fold it in half, matching the selvage then fold it long ways. in other words, hamburger then hotdog and pin that together

Step 3: Get your measurements. The link said to measure your waist, at 2" for seams (I didn't do this) then divide that number by 3.14, then divide the resulting number by 2 and anyone who took geometry knows that gives you a radius. I didn't add a seam allowance and just rounded my number from 5.36 to 5.5 for an easier measurement. So from the corner where the two folds meet (the bottom right in the picture above) measure your final number in directions all around until you have enough points to connect them and make a half circle. In a sense you are acting as a compass (the ones you draw circles with) 

 Step 4: Then you do the same thing with how long you want it to be. I just went as long as the fabric would allow, this is 2 yds of fabric and the length from the center point was about 28"

Step 5: Cut! Along the lines that you just made, I made sure my fabric was folded inside out so I drew with my chalk pencil on the back. If you mess up a little its okay you can fix the length with the hem.

Now this will leave you with a complete circle skirt. I unfolded it and tried it on because I was excited and then I cut down the two sides later but you can cut it in half at this stage if you would like. On the side where there are TWO folds cut both of those if you want two seams, or cut one if you want one seam. 

Step 6: Waistband. I decided I wanted a really thick waist band, you can always just hem it on both sides, add a zipper and be done at this step if you would like. I took half of my waist size and cut 4 pieces at 5" x 17" (this ended up being too short! measure measure measure! So I had to add extra, which is where the belt idea happened!)

Step 7: Take the four and separate them into two piles of two, right sides facing and sew them together, then press them apart.

Step 8: Pin, right sides facing, the waist band to one of the skirt halves, You will have some left over. In order to do the belt you will need about 4 inches left over on each side. Then sew.

 Step 9: fold the other half of the waist band back and pin it at the top to hold it in place. Then what I did was use fabric glue, because my stitch in the ditch capabilities are not where they should be. So I just folded in a 1/4" hem and glued it down! It looks just as professional.

 Step 10: Pin one of the sides together. From the waist band to the bottom. Now there is some extra at the waist band. FOLD IT IN! the seam should be straight with non of the extra sticking out! Sew!

Step 11: THE BELT! Find a old elastic belt or just some elastic. cut off the two belt pieces leaving about 2.5 inches on the ends

 Step 12: Pin the other side of the skirt edges together DO NOT PIN THE WAIST BAND, in this picture I don't have the seams matching..make sure you match the seams! This ended up being too tight and I had to rip it out and re do it =( It is really up to you and how you want it to fit. Since I end up folding mine to put it on if it overlaps its really not noticeable. Then Sew. Make sure to leave the waist band part open.

Step 13: I then pined the belt pieces to the two flaps =) Make sure the belt hook (the part with the metal piece to attach it) is on the side that has already been attached. (not the open end).

 Step 14: pin the notch part of the belt to the other side. Make sure to try it on and fit yourself, I had to pin my flaps back in order to make sure I had room to go a couple notchs up on the belt.

 I Also folded the edges over to make it blend into the belt more.

Step 15: Hem. Zig Zag along the bottom to prevent fraying this will also help with hemming. I did 1/4" seam.

 

 Step 16: Next I used the Hem Glue again!! Since its a circle its tough to hem but if your zig zag is straight you can fold it over to the top of the zig zag and glue it =) It is important to go a little bit at a time to keep its circle shape.

Then you are done!! you can do whatever you want to this design! this is just how I did it. Hope you enjoyed!