DIY Striped Maxi Skirt

A few weeks ago I was on Pinterest looking at DIY crafts and I came across this.

Someone had pinned it as a DIY maxi dress.

I clicked it to see if it actually went to a pattern...nope...$196 for a dress.

Really?!?!

$196 for that? Sure it's cute, but not $200 cute.

I don't think I've spent that much money on clothes in one shopping trip.

I decided that I could make a skirt similar to that one.

I started working on it a few days later and this is what I came up with.

 I made the black and red one first and received such a huge response from my friends on facebook,

that I decided to make a grey and white skirt and include a tutorial.

This is my first sewing pattern that I have created, bare with my instructions.
This pattern is mine. You are free to use it to make skirts for yourself, friends, and family.
You are not allowed to sell this pattern. 

First, you will need a jersey knit material.

Jersey knit can be $10 a yard on sale up to $15 a yard regular price.

A little bit too pricey for my wallet.

I was walking around WalMart a few months ago and found these jems.

Jersey knit sheets for $20 each!!

They have been sitting in my material closet for too long without being touched.

Make sure that you wash them BEFORE you cut your pattern.

Second, you need to figure out what size to make your skirt.

 Luckily I have figured all of that out for you.

I have two documents for you to download.

The first one is the math page. Don't get worried because I said math!

I color coded the documents to make it easier for everyone.

The second document is my quasi-pattern.

Click here for the math page.

Click here for the pattern.

When you see the pattern page, you will see that each block tapers out 1/4" to 1/2".

That is so the skirt will be flared just a little bit.

Third, you need your elastic.

When it comes to elastic, I cannot stand having thin elastic that rolls.

Grrr!!

I found non-roll elastic at Walmart for $1.77 for 2 1/2 yards.

This elastic is brilliant!

I didn't know this was out there until I went looking for it.

Now you can grab your washed material, scissors, sewing machine and get started.

It only took me 3 1/2 hours to finish one skirt.

You will need to excuse the pictures.

I had to wait to cut my material when the halfling was in bed for the night.

I don't have the best photography lighting in my living room.

:)

Once you have decided what colors you will use, take your first piece of material and fold it in half.

Look at all of that material! And that is only the flat sheet from each set!

It will be difficult to get a perfect fold with jersey knit.

I spent a lot of time trying to make the fold perfect.

Then it hit me, why don't I carefully slide my rotary cutting mat in between the material?

Then I held the material with one hand and pushed the mat against the fold.

Viola! The ripples were gone!

Cut a straight edge on one side of the material.

I had to cut off the hem of the sheet.

I wish I could have used it, but the ripples were just too much for me.

 I had my measurements of how big one block needed to be from my math sheet.

Once I laid my ruler on my material, I put a post-it where I would need to cut to.

Less waste of precious material.

You see how my ruler is at a diagonal?

 I would cut the long end of the block first, then use the measurements on the mat to cut my diagonal needed for my block.

Does that make sense?

I had 12 little pieces of paper with numbers 1 - 6 on them, since I had to cut two of each block.

Once I cut one block, I would pin the number that the block went to.

Then I didn't have to hope that I had them in order.

 When they are all cut, lay them out in the order that they needed to be sewn together,

making sure that you didn't forget to cut any blocks.

 Take one side of the skirt and unfold each block,

keeping them in the same order that they need to be sewn.

Make sure that right side of material is facing toward you, not the ground.

I believe that there is a right side of material to jersey knit.

From left to right they are numbered 1 - 6.

1 being the waistband piece.

 Take the top of piece 5 and fold it down to the bottom of piece 6.

You can see the grey peaking out from underneath the white.

That means that you are sewing it together properly.

Sew pieces together using the side of the foot as your seam.

The nice thing about jersey knit is that it is stretchy.

If one piece wasn't cut a long as another, you can always stretch it.

Take the top of piece 4 and fold it down to the bottom of piece 5.

You can see the white peaking out from under the grey.

You need to be careful with jersey knit, it will roll on you.

Make sure that your material is flat when you sew.

I had to sew a little bit slower so I would have the material flat and even.

If your seam ends up looking like this, don't worry. Your skirt will still look fabulous.

Continue with remaining blocks.

Once you are done with one side of the skirt, serge all of your seams to reinforce it.

If you don't have a serger, do a zig zag stitch on your seam.

Repeat that last few steps for the next side of the skirt.

Now you have two identical skirt pieces.

 Here is where it gets easy.

 Place each skirt piece right sides together.

Match up the seams and pin.

Sew down each side seam of the skirt.

Once you have sewn both side seams, serge or zig zag your seam.

 Time to install the elastic.

This is how I did it, and it was really easy.

I pinned the elastic to one of the side seams.

I left a little gap between the seam and the elastic.

 Fold up the serged seam and place bottom of elastic right next to it.

 Fold the top of the material over the elastic and line up the edge of the waistband

material with the serged seam. 

Start sewing 2-3 inches past the seam.

When you start running out of elastic, hold the material behind your machine and gently pull the elastic.

If you have sewn the waistband properly, none of it will be sewn into the seam.

Pull enough elastic so you can finish the waistband, which should only be about 5-8 inches.

Stop sewing the waistband 2-3 inches before your starting seam.

 Pull elastic out and fold over 1-2 inches.

 Zig zag stitch at both ends of elastic.

At this point, try your skirt on and see if you like how the elastic feels.

If it is too tight unpick your zig zag and make your fold smaller.

If it is too loose, cut your zig zag out of your elastic and refold and sew.

You should end up with a waistband that looks like this.

 Last step, hem your skirt.

You will want to put your skirt on and see how much you can hem it.

I wanted my skirt to fall right to the ground.

I serged the raw seam, folded it over, sewed it.

Then folded it again and sewed it again. 

 Huzzah! You have finished your striped maxi skirt!

Let me know if you try this "pattern".

I want to hear if you liked it and if it made sense.

If you have any questions, let me know and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Cheers,

Holli