Sew a Flounce Hem Skirt :Sewing pattern & tutorial

flounced hem skirt

A flounce hem is one that flares. This skirt has a flounce attached to the hem. This gives a very attractive silhouette and an added prettiness and femininity to the otherwise plain skirt. 

How to sew the Flounce hem skirt

You need two fabric pieces for the front and back, extra fabric to cut flounce, strip of fabric for waistband and matching invisible zipper.

Step 1

Cut out two fabric pieces (on fold) for the front and back pieces – following the dimensions in the pattern given below.

The front piece and back piece are different slightly at the waist. So cut separately. 

flounced hem skirt

Step 2

Sew the darts for the front and back. Dart width is 1 “. Pinch 1/2 inch to either side of the middle dart line and sew the dart. Press. Learn how to sew a dart here.

flounced hem skirt

Cut out the flounces. I used a 34 inch square piece to cut out 5 1/2 inch wide flounces. I had a lot of extra flounce.

Step 3

Cut the flounce. I have taken a 34 inch square piece of fabric to mark and cut the flounce – this gave me a little extra flounce than I needed for the skirt.

Mark a big circle first and then draw the flounce as in the picture below. Those sections should be the width of your final flounce plus seam allowance on either side. I have used a 5.5 inch flounce. 

flounced hem skirt

Cut the flounces.

flounced hem skirt

flounced hem skirt

Cut out the flounces to match the bottom edge of front and back – length should be equal to the bottom edge of the skirt pieces.

Finish the hem of the flounce with a hemmer foot – rolled hem edge is the only suitable hem stitching for the flounce. Check out this post on sewing with hemmer foot.

Step 4

Join the flounce pieces to the front and back pieces of the skirt.

flounced hem skirt

flounced hem skirt

Step 5

Join the front and back of the skirt at the side seams.

Keep the two fabric pieces right sides together. Sew the sides; but for one side side you need an opening for adding zipper . Leave a 8″ space at the top of one side un-stitched.

Step 5

Cut out waistband piece of width 3 1/4 inch ; length equaling the top edge of your skirt.

flounced hem skirt

Cut the invisible zipper to 10 inch. When you cut ensure that zipper pull is where you want it to be ( I am speaking my experience of cutting zipper with the zipper pull somewhere in the section which I cut away. You are more intelligent, of course; but just in case)

Place the skirt right side out in front of you. Keep the waistband piece right side down on the top edge of the skirt. Stitch in place joining the top edges of both pieces.

skirt with flounced hem

Open it up and press. Press the seam allowance inside up.

flounced hem skirt

Step 6

Keep the invisible zipper face down on the opening 1 3/4 inches from the top edge of the waistband. 

As for aligning the zipper, keep the zipper 1″ to the inside ( this is the seam allowance, you have added).

Pin in place.

skirt with flounced hem

Sew with invisible zipper foot. Start stitching 1/4 inch from the top of the zipper (ie do not stitch the first 1/4 inch of the zipper).

skirt with flounced hem

When you sew with the invisible zipper the zipper teeth will be inside the groove of your invisible zipper foot. And your needle should be adjusted so that it is falling just inside the zipper teeth to the left. (Look at the picture above)

After stitching the whole zipper in place start pinning the other side of the zipper to the other side of the opening.

Pin in place. Actually making hand sewing basting stitches are better. Because removing pins as you sew is a pain. 

flounced hem skirt

This is how it looks on close up – the zipper is twisted so that inside edge of the invisible zipper is exposed and pinned.

skirt with flounced hem

Sew in place. Start stitching 1/4 inch from the top of the zipper, as you did with the other side.

This time the needle will have to be moved to the left to accommodate the zipper teeth through the groove on the left of the invisible zipper foot.

skirt with flounced hem

Turn the top edge of the zipper to the inside and sew in place – use hand sewing needle and thread for this.

flounced hem skirt

Step 7

Fold the waistband to the inside – turn under the extra seam allowance 1 inch to the inside. Pin in place. Ensure that when you will start sewing from the other side the fold will be caught in the stitches. 

flounced hem skirt

Now stitch in the ditch on the waistband seam from the right side of the skirt – this will catch the fold on the back . 

flounced hem skirt

If you want to sew this skirt with pockets you can follow this tutorial to make a gathered skirt with pockets.

how to sew gathered skirt with pockets

Related posts : Skirt Patterns ; How to sew a fitting elastic waist skirt; How to sew a mermaid skirt ; How to sew an A line skirt

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Author: Sarina Tariq

Hi, I love sewing, fabric, fashion, embroidery, doing easy DIY projects and then writing about them. Hope you have fun learning from sewguide as much as I do. If you find any mistakes here, please point it out in the comments.

3 thoughts on “Sew a Flounce Hem Skirt :Sewing pattern & tutorial”

  1. binu baruah

    I love the cloth cutting techniques; i think this techniques is useful for those who do not know how to cut the clothes and how to sew….. ; I m very thankful to this website;

    Reply
  2. Anne

    Thank you for the tutorials! You say the front and back are cut a bit differently at the waist, but the measurements are the same. Could you please clarify how a I should cut the front and back differently?

    Reply
  3. Iceni Summersides

    I love this. I want a flounce on a pencil skirt, so this will help me calculate I hope.
    Thank you

    Reply
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