My daughters love skirts that twirl. “Mommy, I’m wearin’ my dancin’ skirt!” is always followed by a vigorous shaking of the hips to make the skirt swish, or a dizzying twirl. Until today, the girls only had one twirly skirt each, and I decided that instead of washing and wearing the same skirts every day, we’d make some more. I knew they couldn’t be that complicated, and I hated to buy a $10 pattern for a garment I planned to make from scraps. So I did some Googling.
Jackpot: Simple gored skirt
A gore, as I subsequently learned, is sewing-speak for a triangle with the top cut off. In these skirts, it forms the vertical panel. Making the skirt without a pattern requires some simple math and waist and length measurements for the child. I like my girls’ skirts to be knee-length (about 10″), and Lou’s and Bug’s waists are 22″ and 20″. Because I want them to be able to share these skirts, though, I used Lou’s waist measurements for the pattern, then Bug’s waist measurements for the elastic.
I followed the directions on the link above, and here are the results:
Not bad, eh? They looked even cuter on, and I have great plans for altering the design. I’d like to make the gores half as wide next time, and maybe cut them from outgrown or torn clothes. It would also be adorable in denim, and a great use of old blue jeans. Or, it would be so cute to take an outgrown or torn pair of overalls, cut it off at the waist, and sew the skirt (sans elastic) to the waist of the overalls, creating an overall dress. Then use the denim from the overall legs to make pockets on the skirt, and a scrap of the skirt fabric to sew a matching patch on the overall top. Mmm, when I get around to making that one, I’ll post it too!
Posted on February 19th, 2007 by Dove
Filed under: Domestic Arts
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