Simple gathered-to-waistband skirt tutorial!

Simple gathered-to-waistband skirt tutorial!

• 1.03.2011

This weekend I put together a quick and simple skirt inspired by all the short, gathered skirts with waistbands I've seen around this year and last year.  I'd love if it would work for the office, but I'll see how it goes...

Here are some inspirations:

The J.Crew "bungalow skirt":

ModCloth:

And this one from Anthro:

I'm sure you've seen skirts like this around, too.  I had some nice textured nylon/rayon-ey stuff my mom had leftover from a project, and it's even similar to the ModCloth and Anthro skirts.  I like print skirts, but thought a solid color would be more professional...

So here are the instructions!

• Start by cutting your rectangle.  I wanted mine to be 16.5" long (I the J.Crew skirt description for the length measurement, which was helpful), so when I cut I added .5" at the top and 1.5" at the bottom for the hem.  Depending on how full you want your skirt to be, will probably use one full panel of fabric (45-60" wide, depending on the width of the fabric).

• Cut or tear your waistband.  Measure your waist, add .5" for wearing ease, and add .5" on each side for seam allowance at the zipper (so, your waist measurement plus 1.5" long).  I cut mine about 4" wide, since I'll lose .5" on each long side as well and I wanted my band to be about 1.5" wide.

• Sew up your center back seam, leaving 7-9" open at the top for the zipper.

• Press seam open.

• At the bottom of the skirt, press under .5", then turn under again and pin.

• Sew in your hem (you can use a blind hem stitch if you like, of course, but I just did the quick and simple way).

• Run a long stitch with a tight tension to gather the top of the skirt (start .5" or so from each edge that will become the center back zipper seam).

• Carefully pull the top thread to gather the seam.

• Matching center fronts, pin your skirt to your waistband.

• Press the seam toward the waistband.

• Press under .5" the top of the waistband.

• Fold the waistband over and pin.  Make the waistband overlap itself so 1/8th or so of it hangs over into the gathers.

• From the top, stitch in the ditch between the gathers and the waistband.

• Press waistband flat.

•  Put your zipper in at the center back seam.

Ta-da!

Would be great with a wide belt!

I am all for pairing the gathered skirt with more sophisticated top pieces and tights.  I love seeing these around in finer fabrics worn with heels!  Hopefully I can make it work for the office.  Any outfit ideas with it?