I’ve not been sewing much of late. The kid has been requesting I make her something for ages but a combination of a lack of motivation form me and the knowledge her wardrobe is not lacking meant it got put off and off.
Being my daughter and a bit like me, she doesn’t give up easily when she wants something. So she plonked the fabric she chose in front of me and suggested a ‘super easy’ dress. I declined that invitation on the grounds she has LOADS of dresses. So we compromised on a skirt. Being lazy and lacking any oomph I decided printing out a pattern was to hard so I opted for a easy, self drafted skirt that is tried and tested and works every single time.
The recipe goes like this …
- Measure child waist to knee, add approx. 4 inches for seams. Then divide that length into 3 to give you each tier’s depth (or length if you prefer to think of it that way)
- Cut 5 selvage widths of chosen fabric(s) the depth previously worked out by taking over all length +4inches divided by 3.
- Tier 1 is one selvage width and will include the fold over waistband casing you will make.
- Tier 2 is two selvage widths sewn together and gathered and stitched onto the bottom of tier 1.
- Tier 3 is 3 selvage widths gathered and sewn to the bottom of tier two.
You can attach each tier however you prefer – since this skirt was knit and the kid requested ‘ruffle edges’ I sewed the gathered edge to the right side of the bottom edge of the fabric of the tier above so the edges showed. See below.
This suited me fine as I was not enthused to try and make everything ‘perfect’ – I do so love sewing with knits! See below … not pretty on the inside … but also not going to fray either!
You could also sew right-side to right-side for a cleaner edge. And finish all seams on an overlocker .. if you felt fancy. Or are sewing with woven.
Construction wise I created each tier first, sewing the widths together where needed. Then I gathered the third tier and attached it to the second tier. I then gathered the top of the second tier and attached it to the first tier. This gave me a ‘flat lay’ of the three tiers all attached to each other.
Then I sewed up the side seam from top to bottom.
Fold over approx. 1 inch of the top tier to create an elastic casing. Stitch round leaving a small hole to add the elastic into.
Measure recipients waist and cut elastic accordingly. Feed elastic in, sew elastic together, stitch up hole.
You’re done. Feel smug.
