I don't often buy patterns for children's clothing, and especially not for skirts. There are so many great tutorials online that whenever I want to sew something I just search for one. But when it came to making an A-line skirt for R, I couldn't find anything appropriate, so I decided to experiment with making my own pattern. After all, how hard could it be?
As it turns out, not hard at all. And now I have a one-piece pattern (from which I cut my two pieces, then add a rectangular piece for a waistband) that I will be using again and again. I like ruffles and frills, but gee it's nice to make something that has no gathering! No zip! No buttons! No elastic! It hardly uses any fabric and is super-quick to sew - just two pieces sewn together to form a skirt with the waist large enough for the wearer to step into; then a rectangle of stretchy cotton jersey measured to fit around the waist, stretched out and sewn onto the skirt, then folded over and stitched down to form a soft and comfy waistband.
For the second skirt I made the waistband a tiny bit too large so I put some elastic in, which I'll remove when R's waist is bigger (if it ever gets any bigger. She seems to grow up, but never out. Her skirts fit for years!).
Even my rudimentary sewing skills might be able to cope with this (although probably not as nicely as yours) - love the fabric. Very cute indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks Liz. Kids look good in anything - makes sewing for them that much more fun! Fabric was from Spotlight, they may still have it if you want to take a break from gardening and turn your hand to dressmaking :)
DeleteSuch a cute skirt! Can I ask how you came up with the measurements for the skirt pattern?
ReplyDeleteHi Shelley. The skirt I made was about 60cm around the waist (ie 2 x pieces with 30cm waist), but as a general rule I would multiply waist measurement by 1.5, then cut the A-line pieces so they will add up to this around the waist. If that makes sense!! Length of the finished skirt was 25cm including waistband. For the waistband I cut the jersey to be a little smaller than my daughter's actual waist - since jersey stretches - and pinned it, stretched out, to the skirt section. My daughter still fits into these skirts and wears them, even though they are now ridiculously short! Hope that helps :)
ReplyDeletePerfect, thank you so much!!!!
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