Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Panel Skirt

 I love this little skirt. Its so simple, cute and you can easily change the look with the fabric on number of fabrics you use.  I saw my cousin wearing one and my Aunt gave me a quick explanation...now I'm going to share it with you.
Start by picking at least 2 coordinating fabrics.  For my 2 year old I used 2 fat quarters. 

Here's the tricky part-deciding how many panels you will need.  First decide how thick you want each panel.  I did mine 4" and it worked really well. Measure your daughters waist-mine was 23 inches.   Now divide your waist measurement by how thick you want your panels.  So mine looked like this 23/4=5.75.  Round up to the next number.  So it would be 6.   Then double that number.  So I made 12 panels 4 inches thick.  Make sense? 
For the length of the panels Measure from the waist to where you want want your skirt to end (I did mine right below the knees).  then add 1 inch.

Cut our your panels whatever width and length you need. They should look like this. Alternate fabrics to create your pattern (this would also look really cute with 3 or more different fabrics as well...Like I said the possibilities are endless).
.  Take the first two and pin right sides together.  sew. 
Add the next one and continue until you have sewn all of them together.  Pin and sew your first and last one to complete the tube.
Hem one end for the bottom and make a casing at the top.  (If you need more details on this step look here...it another easy skirt I made.)
Grab your safety pin and elastic and pull it through your casing.  Sew the two ends of the elastic together and sew your casing closed.
That's it!  You now have a fun little skirt.
Put it one your little one and enjoy.  No matching shirt required :)