Saturday, January 28, 2012

Simple Ballet Skirt- A tutorial



My oldest has been taking ballet lessons for the past 2 years and recently, one of her chiffon skirt came apart.

I decided to make her one since I've some left over chiffon from her last skirt project. The whole concept plus cutting and sewing takes me less than 1 hour!  Want to try? For affordable chiffon, pick them up at Jalan Sultan at $4 per yard.

Material
Less than 1 yard of light pink chiffon of width 44"
Braided elastic band

Instruction
1. Fold the chiffon so that the 44" side is folded up twice for ease of cutting.

I've used roller cutter and cutting board for better control.  The length to cut depends on how long you want the skirt to be. I went along with 13" including 2" for the waistband later on.


2. Open up the chiffon and align 2 short edges (13") together and cut a curve using the curve ruler as a guide. I cut mine to be 8" from the edge but you can adjust that to your liking.


3. I use the narrow hem option on my serge to serge the hem starting from the curve line.  As I don't really have a lot of thread in the same shade, I only replace the upper and lower thread as they will be more visible. See below on my setting.  Remember to remove the extension hook.  Read your manuals for details.


Here's how the narrow hem looks like. So neat.

If you have no serger, you can try using the zigzag stitch on your sewing machine with the smaller stitch width. Try on scrap first before you sew the chiffon!


4. Overlap the front curve edges by about 6" and pin.


Sew a baste stitch to secure.

5.  Cut your elastic band to the desired size and overlap the edge by 1" and sew together.


6. Sew a gathering stitch along the waistband using the longest stitch and widest tension on your sewing machine. Adjust the gathers so that the size will fit your waistband.


7. Pin the chiffon to the elastic band, align raw edge of chiffon to the elastic band. Adjust the gathers.


8. Bring your needle down to middle of the elastic band, pull your chiffon taut and start sewing slowly.  Adjust the gathers as you go and pulling the elastic to fit the chiffon.  Your elastic band should be laid nicely flat below the chiffon. Take out the pins as you sew and remember to keep the needle down before you adjust the elastic band.


9. Then, fold the elastic band over to the wrong side and pin. Adjust the gathers.  Your raw edge should now be hidden inside the skirt.


 Sew along the bottom edge of the elastic band using a zig zag stitch.


Done~!

6 comments:

Dasha said...

Great tutorial! Thanks! Need to make my daughter a ballet skirt this week. Good thing I stumbled on your tutorial!

AmberO at Sleeping is for Sissies said...

Love it -- I made one this morning (my first time working with chiffon) and it went really well except the waistband is much less neat than yours. I am afraid to pull it out since I think the chiffon would ravel, so I guess I will just have to try again!

Foot of the Cross Ministries said...

AWESOME! Question, how would I adapt this for an adult? I would love to make one for myself; I have a fuller figure. Any suggestions? Thanks! God bless.

Mary Lynn said...

Just wondering if it would work just as well to make a casing and thread the elastic through. I love the skirt but I just don't understand the attaching the elastic part. What do you think?

Eunice said...

I should think it will work for adult. Get a skirt that fits you and take measurement from there. If not, cut the chiffon in your desired length + allowance for waistband (eg. 2").

Eunice said...

Mary
You can choose to use casing and thread elastic through but chiffon is very flimsy so you will need some patience to thread the elastic but it should be fine. Just make sure that you serge the raw edge and fold in twice so that it will be totally enclosed in your elastic casing.