Baby/Toddler Maxi Skirt TUTORIAL

Hello there! This week my sister-in-law (who's expecting a baby - YAY!) asked me to make her some maxi skirts for her to wear this summer. Well, I've never made one, nor have I sewn knits of any kind. That only terrified me a little...or a lot! I had a small piece of black rayon/spandex knit lying around from an impulse buy of a remnant at the fabric store, so I decided to make a small version for Tiny One to see if I could do it!

 

It worked out better than I expected! Now I'll share. Here we go.

To begin with, I grabbed a pair of Tiny One's pants that still have some room in them for growth but still fit pretty well. I have some pattern pellon that is just fantastic, and I grabbed that, too. I laid the pants on the pattern stuff. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I traced down the sides of the legs, about 1/2" out from the edge to make the sides of the skirt.

For the bottom, I just drew a line across the bottom of the legs, ignoring the crotch. Just go right across. 

This picture is actually from something else, but it demonstrates something important. At each corner of anything, I drew a little dot, just to keep track of where the real corners were. The pants I grabbed were little yoga-style pants, with the roll down waist. I wanted that still for the skirt, so I drew a dot at the bottom of that little fold over part, and drew a line across, 1/2" up from the dots. Cut out the pattern piece we just made. I folded it in half lengthwise and trimmed to make it symmetrical.

I measured the little waistband, so I could duplicate it exactly. It's 8 1/2" on one side, so 17" around. It is 4" tall, but it's folded in half, so 8" total. I added some for seam allowance, and I decided to cut a piece 18"x9" for the waistband. 

Now it's time to grab the fabric. I cut a piece for the waist, and then I folded the fabric in half, then in half again, so there are four layers. On the fold without cut edges (two folds), I pinned the pattern piece, folded in half. The fold of the pattern should be on the fold of the fabric. Cut it out! NOTE: Really, this little thing can be made out of any type of knit. Just make sure to cut the waistband so that it stretches the long way (around the waist, not up and down).

Now you should have three pieces: waistband, front piece, and back piece. Lay out the front and back pieces, one on top of the other, lining up edges. Sew them together down the sides. Since this is a stretchy fabric, you don't want to use just a straight stitch. When the fabric stretches, the seam won't, and it will break. I used this stitch, but I don't know what it's called, but it does three straight stitches, then it zigs. If you have a serger, that's best. If you just have a regular machine, you can use the stitch I used, or a zigzag, or if your machine does an overlock, that's good, too.

I forgot to take pictures of this part, so I'll just explain it as best as I can. Take your waistband and sew those shorter ends together. Now fold it in half the long way, so the seam you just made is inside, and you have a little round thing. The raw edges go together. Grab the main skirt and make it right side out, with the seams inside. Center the seam of the waistband between the side seams, lining up the raw edges of the waistband and the skirt, pinning it on the outside of the skirt. Sew those raw edges together and flip up the waistband. 

Fold it in half again, down to the seam you just made. It's done! Isn't it cute? And didn't take that long, either! Good job!

If you want to make your skirt have a "Chevron" look, check out this post!