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How to Make an Elastic Waist Skirt

12 July 2017


Okay I'm back.  Work has been super busy as of late and has totally been consuming my time, but in a positive way!  Not too long ago, my friend Jaime and I had the best conversation about the artsy phase her daughter is currently in and I swear a lot of what she mentioned totally reminded me of me when I was her daughter's age haha.  That conversation totally helped rekindle my love for sewing and made me itch to make something fun.  I've never lost touch of this fun craft, but you know how it is when you have a full time job, have relationships to keep up with, run a blog and try to stick to your content calendar as much as you can...all the busy.  Anyway, because I was itching to sew something, I decided to make my favorite thing - a skirt!  I would definitely say this is a beginner skirt and if you know how to literally run a basic stitch through a sewing machine, you can make this.  Now for the fun part, let's start go over the details!

You'll Need:


1.5 - 2 Yards of Fabric: This should be enough for your waist length x's 2.  My waist is 27 inches so I used 54 inches.
Scissors
Measuring Tape
Pins
Thread 
Elastic: This should be the length of your waist, but if you'd like a snug fit, cut off 3-4 inches off

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  Step 1:  
Measure the length from your waist down to however long you'd like your skirt.  My skirt length was 19 inches and width was 54 inches.  Once you have your measurements, you'll need to keep your fabric folded and cut out your piece.



 Step 2: 
Cut all along your fold to have two even pieces of the same width and length.  Turn your two pieces right side in (this means to stack the two pieces on top of each other with the front of the fabric facing each other).  Next, insert pins along the lengths of both sides of skirts to connect each side of fabric together.  This should look like a large tube after you've inserted your pins.  You'll then just need to make a basic stitch along the pins and once you're done, flip the skirt inside out to show the right side of the fabric. 


Step 3:

Depending on the size of your elastic (mine is 1") you'll need to make one fold in that is at least the size of your elastic because that will need to go through the casing you're about to make.  I basically made a 1.5 inch fold and curled that extra half inch into the skirt for a clean finish.  This is optional, but when making your casing, you can take an iron and quickly run it down the tube you made to make sure it stays down. 


Step 4:

Pin your casing down and run a basic straight stitch all along the tube.  Next, take a safety pin and pin it to the end of your elastic and run that through the tube until it's popped out through the other side.  As you run your elastic around, you'll also need to pull the fabric through and sort of scrunch it up.  Once the elastic has made itself through the whole tube, take both ends and sew a few stitches up and down to lock it. 

   
Step 5:

You'll now need to take both ends of your skirt that are open and simply run a straight stitch all the way down.  You might find it a little difficult to stitch over the elastic part, and to lock this part down, I first start a few inches after the elastic and then hit my back pedal to stitch backwards.  If this is still difficult, you can always hand stitch that part and you should be fine. 


Step 6:

To hem your skirt, you can basically do this in three ways.  For one, you can fold the raw edge of your skirt up the exact same way you made your casing.  It's about making a tiny tube, pinning down and running a straight stitch all around.  The other way is to make a zig-zag stitch all around the raw edge to lock in the fabric similar to using a serger.  Third, if you have a serger machine (thanks, #KingMartin) you can run the bottom of your skirt all around and be left with a fun detailed stitch.  


After you're done hemming your skirt, turn the skirt inside out and you're all done!  Don't forget to email or comment below with any questions you may have.  Talk to guys soon!

xo,
Melissa Victoria

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