The 30 Minute Skirt

I recently found some lovely video tutorials posted by Dana from www.danamadeit.com.  It's really nice to see her in person, explaining a very simple skirt technique.  You can view the video here.

Image Source - danamadeit.com

In this tutorial, I'm going to make a double-layer skirt with bias tape, but I am going to use a slightly different (and I think, quicker) technique for making the waistband elastic casing.

I started with  black and white cotton polkadot fabric, aqua 1/2" single fold bias tape, and 1" waistband elastic.

I measured Olivia around the waist, and from the waist to the knee (where I wanted the skirt to finish).  I added 1.25" to the waist to knee measurement (length) to allow for the elastic casing, and doubled the waist measurement (width).  The width was almost exactly the width of the fabric, so I just used the fabric width.  I cut my first piece using these measurements.  I then cut a second piece, but made it 1" shorter.

I used my absolutely brilliant bias tape foot to add the tape trim on the bottom edge of both pieces of fabric.  Here's the foot in action:

I then folded each piece with wrong sides together, and sewed the side seam using my overlocker.  I ironed the seam and then placed the longer skirt inside the shorter skirt (wrong sides facing out).  I overlocked both pieces together around the waist seam.

I separated the two layers and ironed the waist seam flat, then turned the skirt out the right way and ironed the waist seam from the outside.  The overlocked waist seam was now folded inside the two fabric layers.  I sewed an elastic casing seam 1" from the waistband edge, leaving a gap for inserting the elastic.

In the above photo, you should be able to see how neatly the two layers of fabric are joined together, with the seams on the inside.  Using this method (rather than sewing the layers from the right side, and then folding them down twice and sewing them) is a very quick and neat way of creating an elastic casing.

I then threaded the elastic through the casing, sewed the ends of the elastic together, and sewed the casing shut.  Hopefully you can see in the photo below, how the elastic threads into the casing between the two layers of the skirt.

Here's a tip I've learnt after much trial and error … before you thread your elastic into the skirt, pin it together with a safety pin and have your child try it on.  Believe me, it is so much quicker adjusting the elastic at this step, than after you have threaded it into a casing, sewn the ends together and sewn the casing shut.  Trust me … I've made this mistake many times! 

Here's the finished skirt:

If you don't count the time I spent re-threading my overlocker with black thread, and trying to thread my sewing machine needle (after my automatic needle threader broke), this really took 30 minutes to make.  I think the outcome is totally adorable, and very easy to do.