DIY: Circle Skirt

I found this great tutorial on making a circle skirt, here. I made one in the past for the girl I nanny, and have been dying to make one for me as well. I used the same idea as the tutorial listed, however I used two different kinds of fabrics, because, one, I didn't have enough fabric to make the full doughnut shape, and, two, I liked the idea of multiple patterns.

 First, to make the template. I taped four pieces of 12inches by 12 inches of card stock together. Using the template idea listed in the tutorial, I measured my waist. My waist is almost 40 inches + 2 inches for elastic give, divided by 6.28. Remember geometry? I don't either, but the original tutorial explains it a lot better than I do.

42 / 6.28 = 6.7 inches. Using a measuring tape, I measured an arch 6.7 inches from the corner of the template. I then measured another arch 17.5 inches from the first arch.

And Cut.

When lining up the fabric, I discovered I didn't have enough to make a full doughnut shape, so I cut off three inches for the trim.

I used safety pins to hold the template to the fabric and cut.

Here is everything, all cut, and ready to sew!

First, I ironed the hem for the bottom edge.

And sewed the hem and the four pieces together.

Here is the bottom fabric all sewn together!

Pin the bottom fabric to the underside of the main fabric.

And sew! (Please excuse the bad manicure!)

Yay! The hard part is done!

Pin and sew the elastic to the waist of the hip. Making sure the elastic is taut, stretch it as you sew to make sure it stays flat against the fabric.

A fun and flirty new skirt for fall! Plus, you are never too old to twirl in a skirt.

Happy Sewing,
Katie

DIY Maxi Skirt

With fall coming, back-to-school sales are continuously calling my name. However, my current budget doesn't allow for my dream shopping spree. Ho hum. I stopped at Goodwill today to hopefully fix my shopping itch.

I found this cute dress, by Forever 21, for $4.99. However, in all honesty my boobs won't fit into the top of the dress. I walked around the store three times and couldn't get the fabulous tribal print out of my mind, so I decided to transform it into a maxi skirt.

I cut the top of the dress off, attempting to cut evenly along the pattern.

To make the dress into a skirt I attached it to elastic (not stretched). I measured my waist and added 2 inches. The extra inches allow for seam allowance and makes the skirt easier to get on and off.  Fold the elastic in half and sew allowing a 1/2 inch allowance.

Fold the extra tabs of the elastic back and sew flat.

After looking for my straight pins for 10 minutes, I then folded the fabric over the elastic loop and pinned in place.

I sewed the elastic along the bottom edge of it, grabbing the fabric along the way. Loraine (my sewing machine) and I got into a fight half way through the skirt, where I had to rip the seam and start over, but it was worth it!

Cute and comfy skirt!!

Cost: $7.00 (dress and elastic) Time: 15 minutes