Tablecloth Skirt

I saw a post on Pinterest that shows how to make a "tablecloth skirt."  I love the way the finished product looked, all that hanging fabric, so I decided to give it a try myself!

First off, I made mine WAY too big.  It's ridiculously long on me.  For next time, I'd make my initial square much, much smaller.  Also, the fabric I used was one I just had left over.  This would look better in gauze, or even in plain cotton.

Okay, onwards....

First, I cut a large square out of the fabric.  One of the sides was initially 43 inches (the initial length), so I cut all sides to match.

Next, you fold it in half, hot dog style.

Then fold it again, hamburger.

You're left with a small square, four times smaller than your original.  Now, you need to cut the hole for your waist.  I used a circle skirt pattern I already had.  If you don't have that, take the measurement of your waist, add 2 inches, then divide by 6.28.  That will be the length from the corner your hole needs to be.  You can make a string that length and run it in a loop from the point in the center; or you can just measure a few times from the point and mark each time, connecting the dots at the end.  You can find a great tutorial on how to do that here.

When you unfold it, it looks like this (like I said, it's way too long!):

Next, cut out four panels of the same length as your square's sides.  The width of the panels is up to you.  I should have made mine shorter, but I just cut what was left of my fabric into four equal parts.

You'll want to sew each panel to one side of your skirt, right side to right side.  Like this:

Once all the panels are attached, you need to sew the seam between the panels, turning the bottom of the cube.

For the hem, I used 1/2 inch black biased tape.  Just sew slowly, and the corners present no problem.

Here is it is with all the biased tape done!

Since my material is not opaque, I wanted to add an underskirt.  I had a remnant of black silk that I used.  I sewed up the side at a diagonal, after measuring the top to my waist.

Cut an elastic strand the length of your waist.  

Since my skirt had so much fabric, I thought it would help to gather the inside seam before sewing the hem down.  So I did a long straight stitch all the way around my top, about four inches.

Then, fold the top down (so the top is meeting gathered seam).  Tuck the underskirt inside, and pin.

Not the prettiest seam, but it'll do!

And here's the finished product!

I love the way it looks, but wish it was shorter, and made from a different material.  I will have to try this one again!

~Buttons

Tutorial: How to make a fairy skirt

I saw this tutorial on how to make a square skirt for children.  But why should kids have all the cute clothes?  So I decided to make one for myself.  It looks like a fairy skirt to me, so that's what I'm calling it.  :D

Materials:
Fabric--I had about a yard, and the skirt turned out kinda short.  I would prefer it longer, so next time I'll use more material
Elastic
Sewing maching
Thread
Pins
Scissors
Measuring tape




I bought this fabric just because I liked the color.  The plaid lines made it ideal for this project too.  So, I put it on the floor and measured the width I had.  It was 34" wide, so I cut it so it would be 34" long as well.



I cut out two squares.



Pockets made a pattern for me for a circle skirt (which was what I had planned on doing, but the green and teal material she gave me was too short, and this material would have looked weird as a circle).  So I folded both squares so that I could cut a hole in the MIDDLE using the top of the pattern.  If you don't have a pattern, you can follow these guidelines for figuring out the dimensions of your inner circle:

"Measure your waist

Add two inches to that number. You need these extra two inches so the fabric has “give” and will actually “stretch” when it’s sewn on to the elastic. It will create a very subtle gather to the skirt but will make it easier to get the skirt on and off. This will make more sense as you sew.

Take your “waist + 2 inches” measurement and divide it by 6.28, and you have the radius!"

(From DanaMadeIt.com)



And this is what it looks like with the middle gone.  You can see the edges are still perfectly square.



And laying flat, it should look like this.



For the elastic band--the directions I followed said to measure your waist and add 1 inch.  Then sew the two edges of the elastic together with a 1 inch allowance.  For me, this led to a pretty large waistband.  Next time I think I will subtract an inch, or just leave the extra inch off.



The size of the elastic and the hole in the skirt should be roughly even.



Next, pin the elastic to both layers of the skirt; you'll want the skirts lined up so that they are at 45 degree angles from each other.  I pinned it inside to inside, so that when flipped over, the raw edge would be on the inside of the skirt.



Once it's all pinned, sew the elastic to the fabric.  If the fabric is longer, stretch the elastic as your sewing.  If the elastic is longer, you'll need to trim off the excess elastic.



And you're all done!  I left the hem edges raw because of the gauze material I used.  If I had made this out of cotton, I would have hemmed the sides of both layers 5/8".

This was super easy to make, and so cute when finished.  It probably took me about 45 minutes total to finish this project.  And look how adorable!  I think I can be a Sugar Plum fairy for Halloween.  *ggls*








 


~Buttons