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Don’t be Afraid of the Bias Skirt: a Tutorial from guest Corinnea’s Chaos

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Today is Corinnea’s day to share, and that automatically makes the day special. She’s someone we’d love to know and hang out with in person. Siiiigh. Dang geography. She’s written a really great tutorial on making a bias cut skirt that looks like it could be a 24/7/365 wardrobe staple, especially for anyone who lives where it’s summer year-round, and we feel darn lucky to have her here today. She shows us how easy it is to make, but it still sounds pretty fancy-fancy when you tell your friends and family about it. The word “bias” in relation to fabric tends to do that. That’s exactly why she’s showing us that it’s not hard to do. Thank you, Corinnea, for joining us!
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When Crafterhours asked me to be a part of their skirt week I was thrilled. Susan and Adrianna have such wonderful energy, fun sense of humor and really cute kids! I’ve been a bit busy so the only way I could get this done was to call in reinforcement. Joining me is my daughter Jessica from Insanely-crafty. Seriously, I would not have finished this if not for her.
 I decided that I’d like to do a tutorial and show an intermediate skirt, that’s really cute and slightly sassy.
 Then I changed my mind.
What I need this summer is something feminine, cute and comfortable. I need a skirt that I can wear all day,  is appropriate for work or home and maybe a dinner out.
Jessica needed a skirt that allows for all of the bending, stretching and lifting that goes with motherhood and still provide comfort and cuteness.
I need to show you how easy it is.
I give you the Don’t Be Afraid of the Bias Skirt!
These are so easy, I made four one day and one more the next morning.
Once you have your pattern made, you can finish one of these in a couple of hours or less.
These skirts are super versatile. You can wear them with the waist up, folded in half or all the way down….. Jessica thinks these would be great for those with baby bumps too. Depending on how you put the waistband you can make the skirt a bit longer or shorter.
Disclaimer: I am not and do not claim to be a pattern writer. This idea comes from several different projects that I’ve done over the years. This may not work exactly for you. Please feel free to change it to suit your needs. Adjustments may need to be made to suit different body shapes. Please make sure your pieces are fitting before completing your garment.
 
Supplies
2 yards of 56” Wide Linen
½ yard jersey knit fabric (50 % stretch)
1 yard Pattern Ease
Ball point needle
Wash your fabrics before beginning. Yes, I machine wash and dry my linen. It makes it so much easier to take care of afterwards…
Take your measurements
Measure your Hips ÷ 2 = (H) ______

Measure about 1 inch below your belly button for your Waist Measurement = (W)_______

Create your pattern


Skirt
Using the pattern ease, draw out your pattern piece for your skirt. Draw a line to represent your hip measurement. Drop down 20.5″ and draw a line for the hem. Connect the lines to make your skirt shape.
 Add 1/2 “ arc to the bottom and top of the skirt pattern piece.
 Mark your Bias on your pattern piece. It is really important to draw this line as you see it here. The proper bias cut gives your skirt stretch and movement.
Waistband

 

Fold rectangle into quarters

Mark 1 ¼ ” from side of pattern and 1 inch from top . Draw curving line to connect two marks

Cut along line. Here’s what your pattern should look like

 

Cut out your waistband and skirt pieces

Cut out two waistband pieces from the jersey knit.

Cut out two skirt pieces from the linen. Fold your linen fabric in half widthwise matching the selvage edges.  Make sure the line you have drawn diagonally across the skirt is on the straight of the grain. You can measure from the selvage edge to the line to make sure.

Sewing

Waistband

Use a stretch stitch and your ball point needle. The photo above is a picture of the stretch stitch I use on my machine. It should be the same on yours..
Sew sides with ¼” seam allowance.
Press seams open.

 

Fold waistband in half wrong sides together matching side seams. Press.

 

Divide waist band into quarters marking with pins at the raw edges.
Sew side seams of skirt with a 1/2″ seam allowance and finish the seam allowances with the method you prefer. I wanted these simple and quick, with little bulk, so I sewed with a small zig zag stitch and then trimmed my seam allowance down.

 

                             

Divide waist into quarters and mark with pins.

Place waistband to the right side of the skirt matching the pins at the side seams and in the middle of the skirt pieces.

The waistband will be smaller than your skirt waist.
Sew waistband to skirt with the same stretch stitch you used on the waistband side seams. Sew a 3/8 inch seam.  As you sew, keep the area between the pins taut but don’t pull the fabric, let the machine feed it. You will be stretching the waistband to fit the skirt. Go slowly and carefully, stopping at each pin to readjust and stretch your pieces.

 

If you choose to finish this seam be sure to use a stretch stitch. Iron seam allowance toward the skirt.

Hem with a narrow hem or go easy, don’t hem it and let it fray a bit. You can sew a zig zag or straight stitch around the hem edge to keep it from fraying too much.

When you’re done, try and keep yourself from wearing it everyday…… even out to the beach.

Please let me know if there’s anything I missed!

Thanks for stopping, come back again, I am still going to show you the other skirt.

Comments

  3. Rae says

    oh SO great! Love it!! Want to make one right. now. So question tho: did you add a SA for the bottom skirt portion or just make it as wide as H at the top? I presume if not that there is enough give from the bias to account for the seams? Totally may have missed something though, thanks for the great tute! :)

    Reply

  4. Corinnea says

    Rae, see disclaimer, ha ha. As soon as I read your question, I slapped myself. I should have explained that, yes, the give of the bias allows for no seam allowance addition. That is were a good measurement and getting correctly on the bias comes in! Thanks for pointing that out! Happy sewing!

    Reply

  5. liZ evans says

    Ok, so I agree with Jessica…I totally think these would would work with “baby bumps”. I’m going to make one sooner than later—they look cool and comfortable and since I just started my third trimester cool and comfortable sounds wonderful.
    Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

  8. Becki and Jeff says

    Thank you so much! I bought a linen blend fabric with a large print and couldn’t decide the kind of skirt I wanted from it! This suits my need! Simple, chic, and comfy…. yes, chic and comfy.
    I’ll have to try this after my sewing a top.

    Reply

  9. Norma's Nonsense says

    This looks like the most comfortable skirt.. Since we have very hot summer days, I prefer wearing a cool skirt instead of pants. Besides, it just looks so fresh and sassy to wear a skirt and sandals. As I think about it, I wear mostly skirts in the winter too. I need to try to make one.

    Reply

  10. Kelly's Korner says

    Good job Corinnea! They do look super comfy and great on the two of you! I’m loving the beach scene! :)

    Oh and to our Crafterhours friends, Corinnea and Jess are AWESOME to hang out with!!

    Reply

  12. KJ@letsgoflyakite says

    This is an amazing go to skirt that I think looks fab on many different figure types. I love that you used linen. Often bias skirts are made in non-natural fibres (which is okay) but it is really nice to see this in linen. A total go to summer skirt. Love.

    Reply

  15. Angela says

    I am a HORRIBLE sewer but I just made one of these tonight and I love it! It’s a little wonky, I don’t think I did the whole bias thing right but it fits perfectly and is super comfortable. I’ll keep practicing! Thanks!

    Reply

  16. Anonymous says

    I just made one of these skirts. Your directions were perfect.

    I looked for linen at my local fabric store, but at $15 a yard, that was not an option. The knit fabric I needed was $10 a yard. $35 for a skirt! Yikes!

    So, I found 2 yards of dress fabric in my stash and a stretchy outgrown knit turtleneck in my kid’s closet and got to work. $0 out of pocket!

    Thanks so much for posting this. Now I’m looking for a good sale on linen.
    -Mary

    Reply

  17. wonkydonkey says

    Just wanted to say thanks for such a great tute! I made four skirts today with these directions; the only thing I changed was to keep the lower corners at the side seam in a 90-degree angle for about an inch; I find this helps make the hemming easier. I posted pics of two on my blog.
    Carrie

    Reply

  20. Megan S says

    Update to the above: Wore the skirt yesterday while running errands. After two hours, it was completely unwearable: waistband had stretched all out, would not hold the skirt up. Had to go home to change. Will be cutting the waistband up a bit and inserting elastic. Man. Will not make this pattern again without changing the waistband.

    Reply

  23. Anonymous says

    I made one of these and it is sooooo comfy. Good for sitting at a desk at work and running around the park with the kids. Now I just need to do a better job of matching knit and linen so the next one doesn’t look so maternity panely. My mother wants me to make her one too.

    Reply

  24. Anonymous says

    I found your tutorial last night and made one of these skirts this afternoon. I used a poly light weight woven and was pleased at how it turned out. I put it on right away and wore it for a few hours around the house….just in case it slipped down like the girl up a few comments. It stayed up good and I will be making some longer ones. The fabric I used made a swishy bottom that is very high style. Love, love, love it.
    Kathryn in Atlanta

    Reply

  25. Anonymous says

    OH
    ! I really love your blog. You are a wonderful teacher. I found it last night and I´m reading from home to older posts and i am finding a lot of things to do. Thanks for giving us your good experiences in sewing. I´m learning a lot. Kisses and a hug from Spain

    Reply

  26. Jessica says

    Hi
    I just made this skirt for the first time and it turned out pretty well! I was nervous because of the bias. I let it hang for two or three days before hemming and the length ended up okay.

    I have a question, though…any advice on hemming? I did a staystitch 1/4″ around hem and then used my rolled hem foot (first time) to hem it. It’s okay, but not great.

    Hemming is my nemesis. I almost gave up on skirts and dresses because it was so hard to get the hem right.

    Thanks for the great tutorial! I have two kids and love wearing linen skirts in the summer. So much cooler and classy, too. And the waistband is excellent, after two kids. Somehow the baby bump lingers….

    :)
    Thanks,
    Jessica

    Reply

  27. Lucia says

    I love this skirt but would love some ideas for what to do with the leftover fabric. Its’ a great skirt precisely because of the clever use of the grain but it seems a huge waste of fabric! Is there another skirt pattern (made of perhaps panels) that we could use to make sure the relatively big scraps don’t go to waste (and the fabrics I am using are not really that good for kidswear so, I am asking for adult garment patterns!) Thank You!

    Reply

  28. Kathleen Shumate says

    Thanks for the tutorial! I would really appreciate some help though. My bias-cut skirt has stretched so much that it’s a few inches too big around the waist now! Did I do something wrong? Is there any way to get it back to its original size? Thanks!

    Reply

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