DIY Sew: 1/2 Circle Skirt

 

To anyone still reading, I'm terribly sorry for the long hiatus. Lots of great changes in my life recently that have left me with little free time. I promise I will make a more concerted effort to keep up with regular posts in the future.

Now to the fun stuff...
 

1/2 circle skirt with waistband tutorial!

Materials Needed: 

1 1/2 yards of fabric

zipper

matching thread

sewing machine

Step 1: trace and cut pattern; use this pattern

Step 2: Fold fabric in half with right sides of the fabric touching. Trace the pattern onto fabric

Step 3: Cut fabric

Step 4: Sew up only the bottom half of one side of the skirt using a straight short stitch,  then sew up the top half of the side of the skirt with a long straight stitch (you'll be pulling out this seam once the zipper is installed)

 

Step 5: The Waistband, take this fabric piece....

Step 6: With skirt piece fabric right side out- place the waist band piece over the skirt piece waist band and sew at the top all the way around the skirt using a short straight stitch (note, do not sew over the side seam and leave a little extra waist band fabric for folding over)

Step 7: Turn skirt inside out. Iron open the seam, place zipper face down into the seam. Sew zipper into the skirt.

 Step 8: Use a seam ripper to rip the seam open under the zipper
Step 9: Hem

Finished!

DIY Sew: 1/2 Circle Skirt

 

I was over on WhoWhatWear.com the other day and came across an article about 10 Must Try Outfit Ideas. My favorite outfit idea and also the one I was most excited to try to DIY was this one below: Thin Wool Sweater and Circle Skirt.  This is totally DIYable right? Well I was aching to find out, so, as usual I began to do some construction research.

 

As you can see from the first picture I decided to make my circle skirt a mini. 
See below for tutorial & materials list:

 

Here's what you need to get started:

Pattern

1.5 to 2 yards of knit fabric

matching thread

sewing machine

scissors

fabric chalk

 Cut pattern pieces out

You'll notice after cutting that you'll need to sew up one side of the skirt

DONE!
 

How to: Draft a 1/2 Circle Skirt Pattern

I've been dying to make myself a circle skirt lately, I love the relaxed flowy look, and think it would be a perfect addition to my fall wardrobe.  There's only one minor thing that's standing in my way of sewing the actual skirt..... the pattern...I don't have one, but surely I can figure out how to draft one myself. 

Here's how it all went down:

First I gathered my materials:

Craft paper

measuring tape

pen

scrap paper and calculator

 

Calculate the radius of your waist.  This is achieved with the following formula:

radius= waist/3.14/2
**when sewing with knits you'll have to subtract 3'' from your waist before plugging the waist number into the above formula.  Use the below formula for knits only.
radius(for knits)= (waist-3)/3.14/2

In the below formula 2r-.5'', r= radius; note 18'' below represents how long your skirt will be minus 1 inch (the extra inch is accounting for the hem), if you'd like your skirt shorter or longer, adjust this number.

 

Lines A to B, and A to D should be the same length, each line =2(radius)-.5''

Lines B to C and D to E each measure 18''

 

 

 

 

Cut out the waistband and skirt pattern pieces and now you're ready to create your skirt!

Check back tomorrow for a picture tutorial of my version!