Do you wanted to make a really cute basic skirt, but you wanted it to fit you perfectly? Then you should try pattern making. When I say pattern making, how does that make you feel? Terrified? Excited? Overwhelmed? Something that encompasses all three of those things? Me too! Well, I'm not necessarily terrified and yet I'm always surprised when I try on my skirt and it not only looks like a skirt but it does fit me. I have to say, it's a thrill and a reward when I can look at my end product and say not only did I succeed in creating it, but I made those pattern pieces as well.
Now I'm going to give you the taste of this thrill with our basic skirt pattern making tutorial. We also have a diagram to download for you to keep track of your measurements. It's located in the download section below the video. If you've always wanted to try pattern making, but were kind of nervous to do so, then this is the tutorial where you can jump in and get a feel for it. Get ready to utilize your math brain, because pattern making is basically nothing but math and measurements. I can't be the only one who finds it fun! In this tutorial, I used my measurements as an example, but please make sure you use your own measurements. And in pattern making, it is so essential that you do the correct measurements for it to be the correct size. So if you're careful in substituting my measurements for yours, then your pattern should come out perfectly.
If you created your pattern pieces and then wondering now what? Don't fret. We have a tutorial showing you how to sew the basic skirt so then you can wear it all over town and start you're own cute skirt fashion line in every color.
If it were me, I’d use the widest part of my hip area as the hipline. Hope this helps 🙂
Loving the tutorials! I’m new to sewing and have tried this pattern with a muslim mock up, the problem is that the top of my thigh area is larger than the widest part of my hips, how do I go about altering the pattern to account for this? At it is with my hip measurement I can’t fit the skirt around me! Thanks 🙂
Thank you! I will give it a go. ☺
yup, you can extend the length of your basic skirt. You’ll need two measurements. The first being the length of the skirt, either the waistline to the ankle or hip to ankle. Next is going to be your stride. So take a comfortable step and have someone take this measurement. Both of these measurements should be taken by a friend so it’s more accurate. For the stride measurement, they can just do a straight measurement of the stride (not a circumference) but don’t forget to divide this measurement in half. On your basic skirt pattern, you’ll extend the length then draw the hemline at the bottom (again half of that stride measurement). Then just connect the edge of the hemline to the hipline. Do a muslin to see if you it’s comfortable or do you need to extend the hemline even more. It won’t be as full at the bottom as some of the other styles of maxi skirts but I hope you like it. 🙂
P.S, Is there a way that it can been done without using a elastic waistband as being curvier a elastic waist band seems to add extra pounds to my waist line.
Hi I am new to sewing and I have made a basic skirt from you pattern, which I am very pleased with :-). Now that summer is coming I would like to make a floor length/ Maxi skirt out of some cotton fabric I got from the bargain bin from my local fabric shop. How would I alter the basic skirt pattern so when it is longer I can still walk!
Thank You
You darts are really determined by the different between the length of the hip line and the waist line. You could add a little more ease, making your hip line, say 1/4″ longer, understand this will add 1/2″ total to the front (or back) hip area when the skirt is done, but it’ll give you some wiggle room when it comes time to doing a dart. So instead of only have 1/4″ to do a dart, now you should have closer to an 1/2″. It’ll be a small dart but you’ll get one 🙂 Hope that makes sense.
Thank you …But what else can i do,if i love the look of darts?
I’m trying to understand what’s going on? So are you saying that the difference between the drawn waistline (before darts) and your actual waistline is only a 1/4″. I wouldn’t stress out too much. If you can only do 1 dart instead of 2, do that. If it’s only 1/4″ difference, you can actually do no darts. Just shave, at the waistline and hip curve, in 1/4″ and blend in the hip curve to match. I hope this answers your question.
Hi proffessor pincushion.. This is my 3rd pattern that i am making and i notice when making the dart my measurment run about 1/4 dif for my front waist. is that possible and therefore i cannot have 2 darts. Just explain to me if you dont have room for darrts what to do.
Thank you.