Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Fun Hula Skirt

This pattern is very similar to The Flirty Twirling Skirt.
It reminded me of a mu mu/hula grass skirt for some reason. Thus the title:
Fun Hula Skirt
All you need is:
  • Coordinating Thread
  • 1 (7" by 45" strip fabric)
  • 3/4-1" elastic (make sure it fits loosely between the area around child's hip and belly button)
  • Fabric strips sewn together at widths to equal 70" W (width can vary from 1"-4" and length between 10-12" depending on how long you want it. My daughter wanted it longer than The Flirty Twirling Skirt)

Step 1: Fold over waist panel 1/2" and again about 1 1/3", then sew down very close to edge of fold to form elastic casing. Insert elastic by attaching a large safety pin to one end and threading it through to the other end making sure not to twist elastic. Sew wrong sides of elastic together. With right sides kissing, sew waist band ends from the bottom to the top and stop at casing. Make sure elastic fits well on child before sewing the fabric up. With outsides of casing kissing as well as elastic, sew to close. Cut off excess elastic and zig zag or serge edge. Sew down.

Step 2: Fold and iron bottom 1/2-3/4" of waist panel, as pictured below.

Step 3: Sew widths of fabric strips, if you haven't already done so. Serge or zig-zag all edges (this will make a neater inside as well as not get snagged or unravel all of your hard work). Press seams down and then press front down as well.

Step 4: Make sure your lengths of sewn fabric strips are even and trim if not. Press and iron down 3/4" top of panel. Instead of sewing it down like in Flirty Twirling Skirt, we are ruffling this panel and sewing directly on the right side of skirt. This makes a cute little ruffle at the top (see photo below) To do this, start your ruffle by sewing on your loosest stitch over the newly ironed top of your fabric strip panel. Pull the top string to make a ruffle (see Flirty Twirly Skirt for more detail). If your string brakes, do not worry! Just sew it again over the broken string area and pull from the new string. Once ruffled, place over waist bottom (you should see right sides at all times like in picture). Loosen ruffle to fit around waist panel and pin in place. Sew down.

Step 5: Hem bottom (fold over and press 1/2" twice and sew down) or add another ruffle (measurements and instructions found on Flirty Twirling Skirt) My daughter was too excited and wanted to wear it now!!! Thus no ruffle at the bottom!

DONE!!!

She wore it that night to bed, the next day and had to wear it to church! I was able to sneak it out of her room last night and wash it today!

1 comment:

  1. That turned out really cute! I had a friend who made a skirt like that out of a bunch of old ties.

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