Earlier this year, I showed the children a 1950's style circle skirt and discovered that they loved it. You can see the post here. They were fascinated by the skirt and adored the way it twirled and spun when they did. When I told Roy about how much they loved the skirt, he suggested that perhaps we could find a simple way to make one ourselves. I had heard from some of my friends that circle skirts used to be made from all sorts of things, like table cloths and bed spreads, and then I found a lovely circular tablecloth in the local second hand shop. It was perfect to make a skirt from. Now, all we needed to do was work out how to make the skirt! After lots of experimentation and thinking, Roy is all set to show you how to make your own circle skirt out of a tablecloth.
- A circular table cloth.
- A piece of wide elastic about 2 centimetres bigger than your waist
- A piece of very wide ribbon or bias binding (about 5 centimetres wide) which looks good with your tablecloth.
- Sharp scissors (sewing scissors would be perfect)
- Needle and thread
- A sewing machine
- A calculator
- A measuring tape
- Pins
- A chalk pencil
- A ruler
- An iron
- A large safety pin
Optional:
- A fray checking solution if you think your tablecloth is likely to fray.
Method:
- Measure where you want your skirt to sit. Traditionally, circle skirts sit pretty high on the waist so Roy and I measured from the bellybutton, about where we want the skirt to sit. To do this, hold the start of the measuring tape at your bellybutton and wind it around your waist until you get back to your bellybutton. One of Roys friends will be having the skirt, and their waist is 56cm around.
- Using your calculator, divide the measurement of your waist by 3.14 and then divide the number you get by 2. Round the number up to the nearest whole number. This number will be the radius (distance from the middle of your circle to the edge) for the circle in the middle of your skirt! The radius Roy will be using works out to be 9cm.
- Fold your table cloth in half and then fold it in half again (so you should be looking at a quarter of your table cloth, like in the picture below)
- Pin your table cloth securely.
- Using the ruler or tape measure, measure your radius from the point of the skirt and make a mark. Do this a few times so that you can join the dots up. Roy and I did it on each fold and several times between them.
- Join up your dots with a curve. If you imagine the curve multiplied by four, you will have a circle!
- Cut along the curve line, very carefully. If you like, the circle you cut from your skirt could be made into a tiny skirt for a dolly!
- If you want, apply your spray check solution to the cut line.
- Pin one side of your bias binding or ribbon onto the outside edge of the circle you just cut. Make sure to make a folded seam if you are using bias binding to prevent fraying.
- Use the sewing machine to sew the bias binding or ribbon to the skirt.
- Fold the bias binding or ribbon over and pin the other edge to the inside of the skirt. Make sure to make a folded seam if you are using bias binding to prevent fraying.
- Sew the bias binding or ribbon down using small oversewing stitches. Make sure you leave the ends of the ribbon or bias binding open so that you can fit your elastic through!
- Put a large safety-pin onto the end of your elastic - this will make it easier to thread. Using the safety pin to help guide you, thread your elastic into the bias binding or ribbon through the hole you left open at the ends.Gather the skirt onto the elastic as you go, and keep threading until the pin comes out the other end.
- When you have threaded the elastic through, sew the ends of the elastic together, or tie them in a knot. Sewing them together will look and sit better.
- Turn the ends of the bias binding or ribbon under (to prevent fraying) and then sew the hole shut using small stitches.
- Now, enjoy your skirt!