I love making little skirts! They are so easy and with a cute pair of tights and a t-shirt they look adorable on any little girl. I have no pattern for most of the skirts I make. Here is my effort to share my little amounts of knowledge with you. Keep in mind that I am not a perfectionist and I take that with me into my sewing! You may notice I don't often tell you to pin things together... do it if you need to. I usually just "wing it."
The Simple Skirt
Gather Materials
Cut piece of fabric about 44" (the width of your fabric) by the length you want the skirt plus 2 inches. For example, if you want the skirt to be 12 inches long, cut the fabric 44" by 14".
Cut 1 piece of 3/4" elastic for waistband. Cut elastic the length of child's waist plus 1 inch.
Cut ribbon the length of the skirt- 44". Use as many ribbons as you would like or none, its up to you.
Putting it together:
1. Sew the ribbon on the skirt fabric. There are several ways to do this. You can pin the ribbon on the skirt where you want it to be sewn. OR, if you are lazy like me, you can use a fabric ruler and washable fabric marker to draw a straight line where you want the ribbon to be. Then sew the ribbon carefully on each edge. Make sure the ribbon is even on both ends of the fabric so when you sew the fabric together the ribbon will line up.
2. Sew the side hem of skirt body together by folding fabric, right sides together, and sewing a 5/8" seem.
3. Use pinking sheers to trim the edge of the new seem and iron seem open.
4. At top of skirt, fold and iron seem twice. Make the first fold to wrong side of fabric at 1/2". Then fold over again at 7/8". Stitch close to the edge leaving a "casing" for the elastic. Leave a 2" opening unsewn to insert elastic.
5. Pin a safety pin to the end of the elastic and feed it through the casing, making sure not to lose the other end!
6. Overlap elastic ends by 1/2" and pin together. Sew elastic ends together securely and tuck under the casing.
7. Sew the 2" opening in casing closed.
8. At bottom of skirt fold and iron seem toward the wrong side 1/4" and then again 1/4". Pin in place if this makes it easier for you. Then stitch hem closed.
9. You're done!