Skirting the Issue July 26, 2015 – Posted in: Sewing, Tutorials

I’m so excited to share this tutorial today!! I love Skirting the Issue, and I just love being part of it each year! I first “met” liZ and Elizabeth the first year they did this wonderful service project when I approached them and begged to be part of it. So it was incredibly fun to meet them in person this year at SNAP!! I can guarantee you they’re just as lovely and gracious and humble and amazing in real life.

This year I’m really into knits and wanted to make a super comfortable skirt for Sofia to wear to school. Again she requested giant pockets for all her treasures. Do women ever outgrow that? I feel like giant pockets become giant purses amiright?

I adore Riley Blake knits and I just happened to have these adorable owls leftover from my Lucky Girl dress.

Even I want to hang out in this skirt, it just looks so darn comfortable! And it was a breeze to whip together!

I pieced this skirt together from scraps, really! It’s a great way to use up coordinating prints you’ve got. And it can work for wovens, too, it’s not specific to knits at all!! Are you ready?

For a size 7 skirt, I cut a main skirt piece 17″ by the width of the fabric. For the skirt band piece I cut a piece 6.5″ long by 27″ wide. The pockets were cut from extra pieces. They’re 10″ across the top, 5″ across the bottom with rounded corners, and are 6.5″ tall.

I took my main skirt piece, placed right sides together, and sewed down the short side, creating a circle.

Fold the bottom edge up 1″ and hem.

Then grab a pocket and fold the top down 3/4″ and pin in place.

Sew down the casing, then thread the elastic through. I used scraps of 3/8″ elastic cut to 7″ long. Feed the elastic into the casing and tack it down at both ends.

Turn the pocket wrong side up and fold the edges over about 1/4″ and pin in place to hold.

Place the pocket on one skirt side, centered between the hem and the top of the skirt. I chose to put my seam on one side instead of the back, so I centered the pocket over it. Carefully remove the pins and pin the pocket to the skirt, keeping your pocket edges turned under. Stitch down close to the edge, then repeat for the other pocket.

Run a gathering stitch around the top of the skirt. For ease of gathering and not risking a broken gathering thread, sew one on the front of the skirt and one on the back.

Take the skirt band piece and fold it in half and sew the short sides. Then fold the top edge down to create a casing. I wanted to use 1.25″ elastic so I folded over 1.5″.

Sew down using a stretch stitch, especially if you’re using knits.

Gather your skirt piece and attach to the skirt band and sew the two pieces together.

Turn it right side out, press well, and insert your elastic into the casing. I used 22″ for my scrawny 7 year old.

Happy sewing!