How to draft skirt patterns that suit you

Skirt – that classic garment which is at once feminine and utilitarian.

Skirts come in a lot of shapes and styles and with lots of adjectives attached to it like sexy, stylish, flattering, modest, cute, sophisticated, graceful, prim, traffic-stopping.

One great thing about skirts is that it is very easy to style them – pair it with a favorite top and you are ready for anything – a party or office meeting or a family dinner- There is a skirt for every occasion.

Just choose your fabric and draft a favourite skirt pattern with your own measurements. Don’t forget to checkout if that skirt will suit your bodyshape or not and the different silhouettes you can design for your skirts or the 17 different types of skirts you should know about. 

To draft a pattern for  skirts the basic measurement you need are

• waist round
• hip round
• length of the skirt ( Take differently for back and front If you have a pear shaped body and the hips or bottom is prominent. The length of the skirt will fall differently if same length is taken for front and back)
• flare of the skirt
• Distance from the waist to the hip

Straight skirt

Skirts are one of the easiest of all clothes you can make for yourself. out of that a straight skirt is the easiest. 

Measurements you need to make a pattern for a simple straight skirt block

Waist round ( Where you mean to tie the skirt)
Hip round ( widest part of hip)
Measure distance from waist to hips ( Mostly this is 7 inches ; better measure on your own body. Checkout this post on body measurements for more details)
Length of the skirt from waist

You can make simple straight skirt with a zipper opening from these measurements . This skirt is better made below knee ; if you are making it over the knee you may need slits for walking ease as in the case of the pencil skirt

Checkout these posts on how to go about making sewing patterns and how to cut fabric for more details

Take a piece of fabric which is the length you want for your skirt plus 3 inches
Fold the fabric by half width wise and then by half lengthwise
Waist = Divide waist round by 4 . Add 1/2 inch ease + 1/2 inch seam allowance ( reduce ease to 1/4 inch if it is a stretchable fabric)
Hip ( Mark this at the distance you measured earlier) = Divide hip round by 4. Add 1 inch ease + 1/2 inch seam allowance

Add your waistband . A straight waistband with buckle or faced one will work. Checkout this post on the different waistbands available for you

Or this detailed tutorial for a simple  straight skirt with yoke and zippered opening 

A line skirt pattern

Checkout the post on different skirt styles and skirt lengths 

Table of Contents

Related posts – click on the pictures below to be taken to the relevant pages 

A line skirt

This skirt has the shape of alphabet A, tight at the waist and hips and flared at the hem.This classic skirt is a favourite of all those who wear skirts as it is flattering to most body shapes

How to make an Aline skirt pattern

Cut a Front Pattern for Aline skirt

A- B= Length of skirt needed +1/2 “

A-C = 3/4 inch

A- D = 1/4 of waist round + 1/2 inch ease+ 1/2 inch seam allowance

A- F = 8″

F-H = 1/4 of Hip round + 1/2 inch ease+ 1/2 inch seam allowance

G-I = 3″

K-G – 1″

The A line skirt can have a minimum flare of 1 inch more than your hip round and maximum flare of 3-4  inches more than 1/4 of your hip round.

Cut a Back pattern for an Aline skirt

A- B= Length of skirt needed +1/2 “

A-C = 3/4 inch

A- D = 1/4 of Waist round + 3″

A- F = 8″

F-H = 1/4 of Hip round + 1/2 inch ease+ 1/2 inch seam allowance

G-I = 3″

K-G – 1″

Darts in the back pattern

Divide C-D into 3 equal parts and mark M & L as dart points

Dart width – 1 inch each dart ; ie mark 1/2 inch on either side of the darts.

Dart length – 4 inches; join the dart line

For side opening mark 1/6th of waist from F ; For zipper opening – 7.5 inches

Either draft a waist band or make facings with the same pattern copying the pattern for front and back patterns to a width of 3 -4 inches.

freeimages.com/Lotus Head

Gathered skirt

A simple construction, this skirt has gathers at the waist. You just need a rectangular fabric piece the width of which is three times your waist round and the length however long you want the skirt to be.This measurement can be tweaked as you like it- if you want lesser gathers or you have only so much fabric you can reduce the width accordingly.

Make a waist band for your skirt with elastic inserted and you are done. You can convert the top portion of the skirt piece into a elastic waist band also

Checkout my tutorial to stitch a very easy gathered skirt. But I cannot say anything more than Gertie does in her beautiful tutorial for gathered skirt. 

Circle skirts

Circle skirts look wonderful on all girls, big and small, the way they move around the body is beautiful and very flattering; but their construction is not as easy as it looks.

Most of the circle skirts we see are full circle skirts without a seam and they need a very wide fabric to accommodate the pattern. Variations include half and three fourth circle skirts.

Circle skirts can be made in a variety of fabrics like satin, cotton, muslin and organdy, with more formal skirts made with very expensive fabrics like velvet.

This skirt is cut on bias grain of fabric and is tight at the waist and flared at the lower edge.

Now consider the fabric you have – if you have a very wide piece of fabric you will be able to get a full circle, but this is very rare. (Checkout the post on fabric measurements) . But if you have narrow piece of fabric you will have to make do with joining 1/4 circles. The number of 1/4 circle or 1/2 circles you want will also depend on the fullness you want .
3 1/4 circles or 3 half circles are the commonly used dimensions for circle skirts though 6 half circles are also used for a very full skirt

Let us see measurements for 1/4 circles or 1/2 circles you will need.

Measurements you need to sew the skirt
Length of the skirt
Hip round

Add 4″ to the length needed for waistband seam allowance and hem seam+ some inches for shifting ( 5-6 inches if you are making a very long skirt)

Length of the skirt fabric = Length you need + 4″ + 5″
A=length you have calculated

B= Hip measurement divided by No of 1/4 or 1/2 circles in the skirt + 2″
c = hip measurement divided by no of 1/4 circles in skirt * 2″ divided by 3.14

If you are not sure about how much fabric is needed to sew the circle skirts consider this
For one 1/2 circle skirt piece the width of the fabric should equal A+C and length of the fabric should be (A+C)* 2. The total length needed will be (A+C)* 2 * no of 1/2 circle skirt pieces you will be joining to make the skirt
For a 1/4 circle skirt piece the width of the fabric should be be equal to A + C and length also should be equal to A=C

Tips to stitch circle skirts

Hem – One very difficult thing for most people in the making of a circle skirt is a neat hem which is not twisted. The circular shape of the bottom edge of the skirt makes it very difficult to hem. Hand hemming will take a lot of time . What I do is turn 1/4 inch inside and edge stitch once all around the hem. Cut away extra fabric close to the stitch line ( time consuming but very well worth the time spend  for neat looking hem) . Now turn the edge inside once more and edge stitch.  

Another tip is to preferably choose a pattern with elastic in the waist rather than one with zipper – then the sewing of a circle skirt will seem all the more easier. 

Checkout the post on 16 Ultimate circle skirt patterns from around the world.

Related posts

Handkerchief skirt

The edge of a handkerchief skirt dips down to a point and hangs down like the tip of a handkerchief.

This skirt basically is a square fabric with a waistband and its hem falls down like the corners of a handkerchief, hence the name handkerchief skirt. More and more layers of fabric can be used to increase the visual effect of the number of pointed hems.

As this skirt has an asymmetrical hemline, this skirt can be said to be flattering to all especially short girls. Result is you can look taller if you don this skirt. Ahhh A DIY handkerchief skirt is what I needed to look tall all this time. 

You need at least 2 1/4 meters of a 45 inches wide cloth to make this skirt with two layers for an adult. The width of the cloth determines the length of your skirt so wider the cloth you have, longer will be your skirt ie length of one side of this square is double the length of your skirt.

Divide the cloth you have into two squares of equal size
Hem all four sides of the squares – you can decorate the hem with ribbons poms poms tassels etc.

Measure hip round loosely.

Divide the hip measurement by 6.28 – this will give you the radius of the circle you will have to cut out from the center of the squares

Fold the cloth along the middle first 1-2 ; then along 3-4 as per the diagram – you will get a square shape as the second diagram.

A-B = A-C = Radius of the circle you get by dividing your hip round by 6.28. Cut out the portion outside of B-C in a curved line making sure all the points are equal to the radius.

Line up both the square fabric  bottom layer right side up on top of Top layer right side up. Pin along the circle hole in the middle aligning both the cloth. 

Stitch around the circle edge twice with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Pull down the bottom layer to the back through the center hole

Now the skirt portion is ready ; you can assemble the whole handkerchief skirt by attaching a fabric waistband casing with elastic or a matching elastic waistband directly stitched to the skirt. Make sure to take elastic 1 inch lesser than your waist measurement for a snug fit.

Gored skirt

How to make a 6 panel gored skirt

A gored skirt is a panelled skirt with 3 panels in the front and three panels in the back. All the panels will be of similar size. 

A-B = 1 inch;

C-D = 1 inch

B-E = Full length needed +1.5 inch seam allowance minus waistband width

Mark these one on both sides of the pattern as shown in the diagram

Join E- D and B- C in a soft curved line

From one piece of cloth cut 2 pieces of panels

Cut 4 more more for gored skirt pattern pieces

Novelty gathered (Tiered skirt )

This skirt consists of three tiers of fabric attached to each other. Each tier is attached to the other one with lots of gathers.

The 3 tiered panels of the skirt should be cut as detailed in the diagram

All the tiers are of the same length ; the addition of  2.5 inches in the 1st tier is for the waist band  2 inches and the bottom edge seam allowance 1/2 inch

The 2nd tier has 1/2 inch each seam allowance for upper edge and bottom edge

The 3rd tier should have seam allowance of 1/2 inch for top edge and hem turning of 1 inch

Waist band of this skirt should have elastic inserted – cut elastic 1 inch smaller than the waist round. 

Join the short edges of all panels to make 3 round tiers. 

Gather the top edges 2nd and third tiers to match the bottom edges of 1st and 2nd tiers respectively. Join all the tiers and voila the skirt is ready. 

freeimages.com/ alexander redmon

Tulip hemmed skirt

This is a skirt devoid of a side seam and one part of it over laps the other. It is usually worn over tights by ballet dancers.

How to make a wrap around Tulip hemmed skirt Pattern

You need an Aline skirt pattern to make this skirt ; As this skirt comes without side seams the back pattern and front patterns has to be be joined after altering the front pattern .

From the center line of the front pattern of Aline skirt mark 5 inches . Draw a curved line from the bottom center line to the marked point as in the diagram below- make a similar mirror pattern to the other side also.


Cut out the two front panel patterns outside the curved lines ; Join it to the back pattern of an A line skirt

Waistband
You need a waistband which will wrap around your body – you can make this out of the same fabric or a ribbon of 1″ width.

Measure the total width of the skirt waist . Add 1 inch seam allowance . Add 40 inch extra

Sew a button hole in the Waist band of the front flap to insert the tie.

Pleated skirt

This skirt has pleats made by machines or by hand which adds fullness, grace and beauty.

How to make a pleated skirt pattern 

A-H = Total width of cloth taken divided by 4 + 1″ seam allowance = H-I

H-F = 1 3/4″
A-B = 1 1/4″

B-C = Length needed – Waistband width (1″) + 1/4″ seam allowance
Mark F-E same as B-C

F-G ( side opening) = 1/6 waist or 7.5 if using zipper

How to make pleats

Width of pleats =  { (B-F – (minus)  1/4 waist ) + 1/2 } divided by 2

How to make Pleats

( Checkout the post on 5 beautiful pleats you could sew on your clothes )

photo: free images.com/Marília Florêncio Santos

Layered skirt

This skirt may be gathered or circle skirts but consists of two or more layers.

Another way of making it is to layer with ruffles and this pattern is a delight on little kids. This skirt from Dana (madeeveryday) is so cute and just what a little girl needs.

To make a ruffled skirt with layers you need 6 pieces of fabric cut as per the diagram below. The first connecting piece will be used as a waist band inserting elastic which is cut exactly the same size of the waist round or a little less. 

Waistband 

How to draft waist band for your skirt

If using interfacing ( highly recommended to use ) cut it to a width of 1 inch and length of waist round + 2″ overlap (without seam allowance)

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