Circle Skirt

Sewing a circle skirt with no pattern is an easy math problem.

There are two ways to make the skirt: Use your hip measurement plus 4 inches and make the skirt with an elastic waist, or use your waist measure plus 1 inch and add a waistband to the top and a zipper on one side.

OK, [LETS DO AN EXAMPLE ALONG WITH THESE STEPS. SAY MY WAIST IS 30 INCHES (YOU'LD BE LIEING BIG TIME, BUT LETS USE IT ANYWAY) AND i WANT A 25 INCH LONG SKIRT]

STEP 1: take the measure you want (above), and divide it by 3.1416 (pi for those math wizzes out there) So, 30 inch waist, divided by 3.1416 equals 9.54 or about 9 1/2 inches for my waist to fit into.

The resulting number is the diameter of the circle you need for the STITCHINGLINE of for your waist. Note the emphasis on stitching line there, this comes into play later.

STEP 2: Now, determine how long you want the skirt from your waist. Take that number, double it, then add it to the number your got in step one EXAMPLE: 25 inch long skirt, doubled equals 50 inches, plus the circle diamater from step 1 (9.54) equals 59.54 inches.

The result is the width and length of the fabric you need to create this skirt. (so our example could use 60 inches of a 60 inch wide fabric to make the skirt) If your number is larger than the fabric you have, you will need to either piece the fabric to make the skirt, or make the pattern, and cut it out in sections.

STEP 3: Take your fabric laid out in front of you with the selvedge edges horizontally in front of you. Take the two corners which are closest to you, and fold them to meet the other corners on the far end (the other selvedge edge). Now, take the resulting folded fabric, and fold it from the left to the right, matching the cut edges of the fabric. The resulting fabric should have produced the center of your original fabric now to be to your left, and the cut edges (4 layers of fabric) to your right.

STEP 4: Take your circle diameter measurement from step one, divide this by 2 (example: 9.54 divided by 2 = 4.77) Take your tape measure, measure down this distance from the left corner closest to you towards the selvedge edges, mark with chalk or pencil. Now, pivot the tape measure from the fold, marking an arc which is 4.77 inches from the fold, until you meet the other folded edge. THIS IS THE MARK FOR YOUR STITCHING LINE ONLY. YOU NEED TO ADD A SEAM ALLOWANCE. Measure towards the folded corner 5/8 inch for a seam allowance.

STEP 5: Take the number you determined in step 4, and add your skirt length to it (example 4.77 plus 25 equals 29.77) repeat the measuring from the folded corner, down to the selvedge edge and mark with chalk or a pencil) pivot the tape measure, marking it all the way to the other folded edge. This is now your hem line. YOU NEED TO ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE TO IT, I recommend only a 1/4 inch turn up twice because of the fullness of the skirt, but you can add what you want.

When the skirt is almost finished except for the hem, let it hang at least 24 hours before you do the hem. Some of the skirt is on the bias.

Now, cut out the skirt, and add a waistband, or elastic band to the waist.

OR .............

I do these all the time for dancers. Bear in mind that with this style skirt there is the unusual situation of waist size impacting potentially on the skirt length. Remember that width of the fabric plus waist circumference = potential skirt length. I'll try to explain this visially as best I can because there are so many visual learners out there. Picture a 60" square. Now picture a 60" donut in the middle of the square. The hole of the donut is the dancer's waist. The bigger the hole the less donut there can be and still fit in the square. The rest of the donut is the skirt. Anybody with me still? <VBG> Take a sqaure of fabric and fold it carefully and acurately into forths. Iron the sides with folds near the edges only for marking purposes. To make the pattern fot the waist "hole" divide the waist measurement by 3.14 (pi)

Example:

28inch waist divided by 3.14 = 8.91 inches or a scant 9" circle. I don't get too wound up about a certain amount of rounding off because waists change in the course of a day, but I will say that with this particular skirt slightly Smaller is better than bigger. I would be more inclined to think of it as a generous 8.75 inch circle. We can't forget about seam allowances. Multiply seam allowances by 2 and subtract from the circle diameter.

Example:

1/4" seam allowances X 2 = 1/2" subtracted from 9 = 8.25. I know I want roughly an 8 1/4" diameter circle for the waist hole. Draw it using a compass, carefullyand acurately fold into forths and cut out one of the forths. Take this "piece of pie" shaped piece and put it in the corner of your fabric where the folds converge. Cut out the waist by cutting along the "piecrust" edge of your waist template. As for the rest of the skirt: You can certainlycut a circle and have a round, classic circle skirt. (I love the yardstick compass from Nancy's Notions or Clothilde for this), but letting the corners hang has a certain charm, too, as well as all manner of graduated cuts that let a skirt hang longer in back, say. The graduated cuts do a good job of camoflaging an uneven bias drape that develops and will need to be retrimmed once a circle skirt has hung/been worn a bit. Now, in order to be able to get into the skirt, cut a small slit (relative to the waistband size) along one of the foldlines that you ironed into the skirt. For our hypothetical skirt say a 7-8" cut. I serge both the cut (pull it straight to serge) and the hem with a rolled hem in rayon thread. This could also be done by hand or with another machine finish, but rayon rolled hem is my preference. Attach a two sided ribbon (grosgrain or double faced satin) with beautiful long tails for the waistband and Viola! A dance skirt. Questions? I'll try to help. if you don't get it, try it in miniature first with a paper napkin. Wouldn't lots of us paid more attention in math class if we knew it was really all about sewing! <G> Lynne