Easy full skirt (and a little tutorial)

Easy full skirt Easy full skirt
This is a super easy skirt I whipped up in literally a few minutes. It is very easy, and I will say it again, very easy! You can make it and you will make it!

Easy full skirt Easy full skirtErr… anyway, the black fabric is Japanese fabric, made of thick cotton with brownish swirly pattern on it. Actually I wasn’t really sure what I was going to make when I bought the fabric, I was thinking of making a bag with it. Then I suddenly had this idea and proceeded to make it. The fabric has wide blank area on each sides, so I leave it raw and use them for the top of the skirt.

I also had this vintage Tais fabric, it’s a form of traditional weaving from East Timor. My mother bought them when I was little, before East Timor’s independence from Indonesia, and I remember that she often used them on several occasions. When I went to Indonesia last summer, she gave me a lot of vintage traditional fabric including this Tais, my mother has like a whole closet of these traditional fabric. Unfortunately the Tais has a lot of broken patches on it, so I decided to cut a strip and used it for my skirt.

The skirt is basically a pair of rectangles with elastic. It didn’t even need a pattern, but the finished result is quite adorable. I leave the raw edges of the strips shown, and after washing, it frayed a bit and the blue threads are exposed.

Easy full skirt Easy full skirt Easy full skirt

Disclaimer: You may use the finished products for both personal and commercial use (craft shops or markets only – no mass production). Please do not pass off the pattern and tutorial as your own. Thank you!

The tutorial
I’ve made a simple diagram for making the skirt. If you need a bigger size, just click the picture to go to my flickr page and download it.
Easy full skirt - diagram
Materials:

Fabric for skirt.

  • The length of the skirt will be a little bit shorter than half of the fabric width (for hem allowances), so please pay attention to the width of the fabric. The fabric that I use is 120 cm wide.
  • The length of my fabric is 1 m, I think this will be suitable for almost everyone.

A pair of fabric strips, each as long as your skirt fabric.

  • My strips are about 3.5 cm wide each. You can make it wider or narrower.
  • I leave the raw edges shown, but of course you can add seam allowances to make a neat folded edge.

Instructions:

  1. Cut the fabric in half, resulting in two long rectangles.
  2. Sew the short ends of rectangles together to make a tube shape.
  3. Sew short ends of fabric strips together, resulting in another tube.
  4. Mark placement of strips on skirt, about 5-6 cm from the top.
  5. Sew strips on skirt, matching the side seams together. Leave a small part unstitched for putting in the elastic.
  6. Measure your waist and cut the elastic. Don’t cut too short, you can always cut later if it’s too big.
  7. Put the elastic inside the fabric strips. When the fit is okay, sew the ends of elastic together. I usually overlap the ends of the elastic then sew over it several times using small zigzag stich.
  8. Sew the opening of fabric strips closed.
  9. Hem the bottom of skirt. You can also sew a pair of ribbon loop on the sides for hanging the skirt, like I did.
  10. Put on your new skirt! \(^.^)/

Some ideas:

  • Instead of fabric strips, you can use wide ribbon. How about some pretty velvet ribbon?
  • Use twice as much fabric to make a long skirt.
  • Layer several transparent fabrics together (lace, chiffon) for a romantic look.

Click to download:
[wpdm_file id=5]

Have you made something from my tutorials? Join my flickr group to share!

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17 Comments

  1. it’s been a while since I came here. I saw this post on All-Free sewing.
    Thanks for the tutorial. look easy enough for me. Will find the time to do it for my girl :)

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  3. i love your blog!!! I am an absolute beginnner, and i tried your reversible bag, and turned out great!!!! Next is this skirt, i’m so excited! Thank you!!!

  4. OMG!! This skirt is really cool!!! I will definitely make one before summer ends hahaha

    Btw, Saya orang Indonesia juga. Barusan nemu blog ini sampe terkagum kagum gum gum. Aku pemula buangett dalam dunia jahit menjahit, tapi beneran pengen nyoba bikin this skirt.

    Thanks for the tutorial. And I am glad to find this blog (^___^)

  5. Hello.
    I dont speak english, but Im goig to try writting. I love your skirt and I have made my own. Its longer and with a little variation, but I love it too.
    Thanks

    1. Hi Almudena! I can understand your English perfectly, don’t worry about it. Glad that you’ve made the skirt!

  6. I adore your blog and all your work, but I’m most upset that you refer to East Timor as still being part of Indonesia. The East Timorese fought the hardest battle for their independence, if you agree with it or not, they deserve to be recognised as their own independent nation.

    1. I deeply apologize for my ignorance!
      There is no reason that I can offer to justify this.
      It’s just that the fabric has been so long in my family and we always referred to that fabric as ‘that cloth mother brought from her trip to East Timor’, long before the independence.
      I have no mean intention and I really respect the independence of any human being. The post has been edited now.
      Thank you for reminding me. I will try to be more careful when posting about things.

  7. thanks so much for sharing!!
    i’ve been wanting to make some skirts and dresses for so long but haven’t been brave enough to try. your tutorials are awesome!!

    1. Glad that you like it! I got the shoes very cheap from a second-hand shop near my house. Happy!

  8. Wonderful post! What software did you use to create your diagrams. I actually need to create diagrams for the research I am doing and have been looking for something flexible enough to use for many things

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