Twirly Tiered Skirt Tutorial

I had to whip up another skirt for Miss 6 yesterday – all of last season's clothes are too small, and everything that she owns that is new was on the washing line.

STEP ONE

Decide how long you want your skirt to be, & how many tiers. 3 or 4 look best & give a lovely twirly skirt.

I decided I wanted 4 tiers of 4.5inches each, to give me a skirt approx 18inches long. So I needed to cut 5 inch strips to allow for seams.

I use an overlocker with approx. a 1/4inch seam. IF YOU USE A STANDARD SEWING MACHINE ADD EXTRA FOR SEAM ALLOWANCES SO YOU CAN FINISH THE EDGES, OTHERWISE YOUR SEAMS WILL FRAY AWAY [clothing construction is very different to patchwork].

STEP TWO

Measure the hips [or widest part] & add on 8-10 inches for ease. This is the length of 5inch strip you need for tier one.

Work out how many widths of fabric you need. I like to use the hip + 10inch measurement, and add 1 1/2 times that length for tier 2, then 1 1/2 times tier 2 for tier 3, and so on. It only has to be approximate.

STEP THREE

I cut a total of 6 x 5inch strips across the width of my fabric. Cut tier one to length & set aside.

Now join all the other strips together into one long snake. Then gather the snake along one side.

STEP FOUR

Sew the gathered edge of the snake to tier one, right sides together. It will be way too long. When you get to the end of tier one stop sewing & cut off the rest of the snake.

STEP FIVE

Now sew the gathered edge of the snake to the bottom of tier two. When you get to the end of tier two cut off the remainder of the snake. Repeat for any further tiers till you have something like this:

STEP SIX

Sew up the back of the skirt. Add lace or turn up a hem. Fold over a casing for elastic in waist & stitch.

THAT'S IT!

I literally made another one in less than an hour today & took photos of the process to show you. This photo is Miss 2, with her new skirt. She didn't want to be left out!

It will take longer if you don't have an overlocker, but not much. Let me know if you need help with how to finish your seams, easy ways to gather with a standard sewing machine etc.