I would definitely classify my oldest daughter as a "girly girl"... she loves all things girly, ruffly, princessy, etc. And I love it! She is always totally in love with anything girly I make for her. She thinks all of things I make are "beautiful" and she tells me all the time! -Definitely a confidence booster since she currently tells everything "how it is" and has not been afraid to tell me more than once that she didn't like the shirt I was wearing {in a very nice way of course}. ha ha
I knew that I wanted to do ruffles again since she loves them so much, but I wanted to do them a little different. Here is what I came up with.
The ruffles are just barely there, but add a little fullness to the skirt which is fun:)
{more "twirl factor"= happy girl}
So- if your little gal needs a Little Miss Priss Skirt- here is how I made mine...
My daughter wears a 2-3t right now so if you were making this for a smaller or bigger sized girl then you may need to adjust the fabric measurements/amounts.
Supplies:
--- 3-4 different fabrics, 1/8 yard each.
{I had originally planned to make this a 4 tiered skirt, but once I had the 3rd tier on and held it up to her I realized than another tier would have been too long so I stuck to 3.}
---Elastic for the waistband
-trim for the bottom of the skirt
{the kind I used is rick rack with crocheted trim on it- I found it at a darling little fabric shop in my town.}
---thread
Cutting your fabric:
Each layer of this skirt is progressively bigger than the layer above it. So you will need to decide which fabric order you want your skirt layers to be before cutting...
Here is a picture of the cutting process to help you visualize a little bit.
So as I mentioned earlier, when making this skirt I had planned to have 4 tiers, but last minute changed to 3- well I changed to 3 after cutting my fabric- So this is how I cut mine. For the bottom tier {not pictured} I left it the full length {around 42-44 inches}, for the second to bottom tier {the bottom tier on my finished skirt} I cut off 5 inches of the length, for the red tier I cut off 10 inches, and for the top tier I cut off 15 inches. So if you are doing 4 tiers on your skirt- cut your fabric like that- if you are doing 3 like mine ended up being, I would not cut any off the bottom tier and then adjust your lengths for cutting the other two layers off depending on how full you want your skirt. The key to the skirt looking even is just making sure whatever ratio you use for cutting is the same with each graduating layer so that the layers are evenly ruffled. Make sense??
{Tip: I think 1/8 of a yard is the perfect size/thickness for a tier in the skirt- no matter the age, but if you are making a skirt for a bigger child, you may need more width than just 1/8 of a yard so you could buy 1/4 of a yard and then cut it in half so you had two 1/8ths and then you could sew them together so that your fabric was 1/8th of a yard thick but twice as long as just 1/8th of a yard- does that make sense at all?? ha ha}
Step 1: Once your fabric is cut, zig-zag or serge all of the edges for each piece {technically you don't need to serge or zig-zag the bottom edge of the bottom tier since you will be hemming it and you don't need to do it to the top edge of the top tier either since you are going to be creating a casing for your elastic, but if this confuses you- just do it around all edges of each piece- that is not going to hurt anything}
Step 2: Take each layer except the top layer and sew across the top of each layer- Make sure to set your stitch length to the longest your machine will do and do not go back and froth at the beginning or end because you are going to be gathering your fabric. Once you have a seam sewn across the top of each layer, take the second tier of the skirt and gather the fabric so that it is the same length of the bottom of the tier above it. (it is not going to take a lot of gathering since it is only 5 inches bigger than the tier above it) Put the gathered piece on top of the top tier right sides together and pin the top of the gathered layer to the bottom of the tier above it and then sew in place. (make sure that you adjust your stitch length back to normal for the remainder of your sewing project)
When you are all done, it should look like this. You are going repeat step 2 with each tier until each tier of the skirt is sewn on.
Step 3: Press your seams so that they are all facing towards the top of the skirt. The top stitch on the right side of the fabric above each seam. (so you will be top sewing on the bottom of each tier above the gathered part of the tier below it)
It will look like this when you are done top stitching.
Step 4: Fold your skirt in half, matching up the side seams, pin in place and sew along the side to create your skirt.
Step 5: Create a casing for your elastic. To do this, fold and press the top of your skirt over 1/4 inch all the way around the skirt, then measure the width of your elastic and fold and press over again. I used 1 inch elastic so when I folded over a second time, I folded over 1 1/4 inch so that I would have enough room for my seam and to fit my elastic in. Sew all the way around the skirt but leave an opening big enough to feed your elastic into. Measure and cut your elastic and then hook a safety pin to one end of your elastic and thread it all the way through the casing till it comes out the other side. Sew both ends of your elastic together (make sure that it has not twisted around at all while threading through before sewing) and then sew finish sewing the casing closed.
Step 6: Hem your skirt. I just folded and pressed 1/4 inch and then over again 1/4 inch and sewed for my skirt.
Step 7: Add your trim. If you are adding trim like pom-poms, rick rack, etc- sew your trim to the bottom of the skirt.
I used a rick rack trim that had crocheted lace on the top and bottom of the rick rack. To sew this kind of trim on, I just pinned in place and sewed on top of the rick rack part. (since the delicate lace is not attached to the skirt, I am sure I will have to press this trim after each washing)
That's it... now you have a new skirt for your Little Miss Priss!
