Easy Peasy Girls' Skirt

Good morning! Guess what? Today I'm actually putting up a new post. Yay! Exciting, isn't it? Or maybe I'm the only one that is excited by this... Oh, well. I'll apologize in advance for lack of pictures. I lost them when my laptop crashed a few weeks ago. At least it's easy to figure out.

Today's sewing project is actually extremely easy (hence, the title) and took me less than 30 minutes total. In all honesty, it probably would have taken me less time, but I didn't bring my iron to work with me, so I had to pin what I needed to sew when I got home. I guess that just means it took an extra ten minutes out of my clock-watching time. I love that it's finally hot out, but hate that the heat means no customers and slow days. At least I get paid to work on my crafts I bring from home! Can't beat that!

Materials Needed:

- Scissors

- Fabric of choice – at least ¼ - ½ of a yard (I used just over ¼ for my 5 year old)

- Tape measurer or ruler

- Pins or an Iron

- Pencil

- Braided elastic (½ inch or ¾ inch, depending on size of child)

- Safety pin or paper clip

- Sewing machine or thread and needle

Here are the measurements you'll need:

- Hip to Knee + 1.75 inches for the hem

  --》The Diva measured 10.5 inches hip to knee + 1.75 inches for the hem = 12.25 inches total

- Around the waist for elastic and x2 for fabric

  --》The Diva measured 20 inches around the waist x2 = 40 inches

I used ¾ inch braided elastic for my skirt for The Diva and some cute polka dot fabric that she picked out herself at Jo-Ann's. I, of course, could not find my measuring tape, so I used a ruler to measure. I wrapped the elastic around her waist once and cut where it met, then measured that (20 inches exactly) so I knew exactly how much I needed the waist of the fabric to be (40 inches, since we doubled it so it's not skin tight on the poor girl).

I measured out a rectangle that was 40x12.5 inches and marked it off in pencil on the back of the fabric.

After cutting out my rectangle, I pinned down my hems. The bottom is ¼ inch folded under, and then another 1/4 inch, making it 1/2 inch total.  And the top is ¼ inch, which is then folded under a 1 inch space for the elastic. I hope that makes sense.

I then placed my elastic on top of the upper hem in order to ensure that it would fit inside of the encasing instead of being too large. Of course, a clothes pin could not be found, so after I sewed everything together, I used a paper clip to pull my elastic through the encasing and it worked well enough for me to be satisfied (I definitely recommend a safety pin instead though).

I just did a short, straight stitch for the two horizontal hems, which is shown in the picture above.

Next, I pinned together the sides to make the vertical hem.

I did another short, straight stitch ¼ of an inch in. Then, I did a zig-zag stitch over the edges to better ensure that there was no fraying at the ends.

Thanks for reading today's post. I would love to see some skirts that y'all make using this tutorial! The Diva tried on her shirt as soon as she came home from school, as you can see above. She absolutely loved her skirt and even wore it to school the next day on top of some black leggings. Made this mama proud, that's for sure. Look forward to another post this week and a new project next week!

If you have any questions, PLEASE post them. Again, sorry for my lack of pictures.