crafterhours

sleeping babes. crafting moms.

Samster Mommy’s Circle Skirt: A Tutorial

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Today’s guest is Natasha Samster Mommy. I mean, that’s not her whole real name, of course, but in conversation between Adrianna and I we alternate between “Natasha” and “Samster Mommy” as if both really are her name. Yeah, she’s also Sophie Mommy. We hear that could be in the works.
With two girls of her own she’s no stranger to making little skirts, and we’ve asked her to share a fun children’s skirt tutorial today. Because you’re making your own pattern, you could just as easily make one for yourself, too. This one that has a endless possibilities when you consider fabric choice, trim and embellishment — and can be dolled up for an evening out or played down for twirling about the house. Thanks, Natasha, for teaming up with Samster on this one!

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Hello Crafterhours peeps! I love coming over to Crafterhours, it’s like that great fun girlfriend who you know will always put a smile on your face no matter how many poopsplosions & ear infections you’re dealing with.

If you’ve come to visit me at Samster Mommy before then you know how I love knocking off big brand designs. I usually set my crafting cross hairs on Crewcuts but today I’m going for American Apparel. I just love their designs & soft knits for kids but hate putting money in their d-bag CEO‘s pocket. Can I say “d-bag” on here ladies?? Oops.

Anywho, this skirt is made from any soft knit you have on hand. From leftover t-shirts to slinky jersey they’ll all produce great results that are just as comfy as they are perfect for twirling!
The skirt itself is one continuous circle of fabric which gives it it’s great flow. Throw in an easy foldover waistband & I’m officially in love.First step is to write up a quick pattern. The only thing about this project that could be construed as even slightly difficult is figuring out the measurements. It involves a bit of math but don’t worry, I’m allergic to math so I promise to keep it super slowww & simple.
(Also note that I did not add any seam allowance in my measurements, since the knit has such stretch I want it a smidge snug)

The idea is to draw a pattern that is a perfect 1/4 of a circle with the inner circle being 1/4 of your child’s waist measurement. (eh? keep reading, it’ll make sense) To find that magic number you need to figure out what the radius is of a __ circle (blank being your waist measurement, mine was 20″) That involves Pi which is already making my nose tickle so I just google it. Seriously. I typed in “what is the radius of circle who’s circumference (total measurement around the circle) is 20 & guess what, some math website tells me it’s 3.18!

On my pattern paper I drew two 3.18″ lines (see step 1 below), then continued to draw more 3.18″ lines so that I could easily connect the lines & have a nice curved edge. (step 2) This little arc is going to be the inner curve of our pattern. Next decide what you want the length of the skirt to be, I chose 9″. Stemming out from your little arc draw several 9″ lines. Connect these edges, cut out your inner arc & congratulations, you’ve got yourself a pattern.
For Step 4 I took a large square of fabric (32″ square in my case) & folded it into equal quarters. I pinned my pattern on top & cut along the curved edged of my pattern. (ONLY the curved edges! You need the folds of the straight edges for this to open up to one large circle)

Now for the waistband. I usually use a foldover waistband for making baby yoga pants but lately I’m really loving it for skirts. And SO SO simple.

Start with a rectangle of fabric folded in half, cut to your waist size (20″) by 4″. Unfold & sew the short ends together. Fold this tube in half & you’ve got your waistband.The final step is to attach the waistband to the circle. It’s as simple as pinning the waistband along the inside circle of the skirt (right sides together) & stitching into place. Just be sure to catch all three layers as you stitch! (2 from the waistband, 1 from the skirt)Fold down the waistband again (now it’s a 2″ waistband) & you’re set!You could finish off the hemline but knit doesn’t fray & I kind of feel like a hem would weigh down the twirl & therefore utter awesomeness of this skirt.

Thanks for letting me come by ladies! I {heart} Skirt Week!!!

Comments

  3. Kendra Simone says

    I saw this tutorial earlier this afternoon and I just finished making one for my little miss. Super easy instructions! Love the way it turned out, it only took about a half an hour. Great little afternoon project to do during nappy time :) Thanks!

    Reply

  6. Alda says

    One of the easiest-to-figure-out circle-skirt tutorials I’ve found yet. Thank you : D

    The best part by far though, is that my daughter has a 20″ waist too…score! No math for me (phew!) Though I will struggle through it using your method for a skirt for moi.

    Reply

  7. Rachel says

    thanks for this! I googled “circle skirt pattern with knit waistband” because I was trying to recreate a super simple non-pattern from my old summer camp and this is exactly right and doesn’t have any confusing complicated stuff (pleats? a bunch of info I don’t care about?). Yay!

    Reply

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