As promised, here is the running skirt tutorial. I explained it the best I could, so I hope it's clear enough!
This tutorial is written for a skirt to fit my size--my hips (where I wear the skirt) are 35", which equates to 29" unstretched elastic. To make it bigger, add approximately two inches of fabric for every one inch of elastic. (It doesn't have to be exact). The waist band will be very stretchy, so the measurement doesn't have to be perfect.
The finished skirt will be 11 inches long. If you want it longer, just measure down farther from the sparkle line (I measured 12 inches down, but just add however many inches you want to add to the length of the skirt).
Each skirt will only cost roughly $5-10 to make.
Materials:
- 1.5 yards of fabric (you CAN buy 3/4 of a yard and cut it in half, then sew the pieces together--you will have two seams instead of one); 1.5 yards will yield 2 skirts. I will explain this better at the very end of the tutorial.
- 3/4" elastic, 30 inches long
- Thread
- Scissors, straight pins, a safety pin, and a tape measure
This is 1.5 yards of fabric folded in half lengthwise. Just ignore the bottom piece for now. If you want, you can make a second skirt out of it.
The edge of the fabric looks like this (the sparkles start a couple of inches from the raw edge). This will become the waistband of the skirt.
Starting at the sparkle line, measure 12 inches down (vertically). Do that across the entire length of the fabric, and mark it with pins or a fabric marker. (If you want your skirt longer or shorter, you can adjust the length by adding or subtracting from the 12 inches)
I didn't explain that very well on the photo, so here is a drawing. You'll cut along that dotted line where you've measured 12 inches.
Fold the raw edge down toward the inside of the skirt, so that the top of the skirt is where the sparkle line starts. Pin down the raw edge inside of the skirt.
Cut your piece of elastic so it's 30 inches long. (If you are making a larger or smaller skirt, add an extra inch or so to the measurement because you will overlap it a little when you sew it together.)
Attach a safety pin to one edge of the elastic. This will help you guide the elastic through the tunnel you just made.
Line up the edge of the fabric under the needle of the machine to sew it along the top of the skirt. Before you start sewing, use both hands to stretch the elastic while you sew. If you don't hold the stretch while you sew, the elastic won't stretch without breaking the thread when you're done.
The fabric will be pulled taut, because you're stretching the elastic out while you sew. If you don't stretch it out while sewing, the elastic will be sewn in a way that it won't stretch any more without breaking the thread holding it together. You may need to ask someone to give you an extra hand for this part.
The next part is optional. You can leave the bottom edge of the skirt as it is (raw along the cut line)--I actually prefer it this way. Or, for a neater edge, you can sew a hem.
To do that, fold the raw bottom edge up 1/2 inch, and then another 1/2 inch, so it looks like the photo below. Pin it like that around the entire skirt, and then sew.
And there you have it! A cute sparkle skirt :) (You'll definitely want to wear something under it, haha)
Now, about buying half the amount of fabric...
I've always bought 1.5 yards of fabric for my skirts (which makes two), but you can also buy half the amount you need. Here is what it looks like when you lay it out, unfolded:
So if you buy less (we'll say 3/4 in this example), here is what it looks like:
Cut along the center fold line, and you will have two identical pieces of fabric. Then you will line up the short edges and sew them with right sides together, like this:
Then just follow the tutorial as if this were one piece of fabric.
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