Simple Reversible Skirt - Tutorial

A super simple reversible vintage skirt to make in about an hour...

Skirts and dresses are wonderfully easy to wear for a little one in a cast, so today we spent some time together and made one.  Our little girl helped me choose the fabric from my stash, along with a vintage cross-stitch and some very old lace.

I made up the pattern along the way and it turned out to be reversible too - a bonus discovery when she tried it on inside out!

Here is a simple tutorial if you would like to make one for a little girl you know :)

Start with a piece of embroidered fabric - an old tablecloth is ideal.
My suggestion is to use a skirt which fits your girl well as a guide to measure your fabric dimensions.  This way you can use this tutorial to make a skirt for any age.

My piece measured about 15 x 26" (38 x 66 cm) as I wanted a really long skirt as it is quite chilly here at the moment.  I actually cut my square-ish table cloth in half and sewed it back together along the side to make the long rectangular shape needed.

Cut your lining fabric the same size and sew it right sides together with the embroidered piece along the long top edge.

Cut a good few inches off the bottom edge of your lining fabric.  This is so when you sew the pink strip onto the bottom, the seam is hidden underneath the embroidery overlay.

For the pink strip along the bottom cut a piece the same length as your main fabric/lining and twice as deep as you would like the strip to be.  Fold it in half along the long edge and sew onto your lining piece.  If you have an overlocker/serger this would be a good time to use it as although this seam will be underneath the embroidery overlay, you may still see the seam if the top layer flips up during play etc.

Add some pretty lace to the edge of your embroidered fabric.

It will look like this when you lay it flat.  All the seams should be on the wrong side.

Fold your skirt in half, right sides together so it forms a tube and sew down the side until you reach the pink strip at the bottom.  Leave the pink strip open.

Open your skirt the right way out.
Sew a casing for your elastic about an inch wide along the top.  Be sure it is a little wider than the elastic you are using!

Measure the length of your elastic, using a well fitting skirt as a guide.  Unpick a tiny bit of the casing and thread your elastic through.  When it comes out at the other end, sew your elastic together well and let it slip into the casing.  Hand stitch the tiny hole closed.

Now we just need to finish the opening at the bottom of the pink strip.  You want to sew it together to form a nice joined tube.  Start at one point and with the right sides together, start sewing around.  This is a bit fiddly.  You wont be able to get all the way around with the sewing machine, so just hand stitch the last little bit closed.

Voila.  A lovely reversible vintage skirt.

Well done you!

xx

If you have any questions simply leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help. 
Be sure to provide a way for me to reply to you if your email address is not linked!  Thanks :)