circular skirts

Jul 04, 2007 3 Replies
C

Does anyone know where I can find directions or a pattern for circular skirts for young girls? My youngest DGD asked me to make 2, one each for her & a friend.. They like to twirl, and see which skirt flares out the most. At age 8, I don't believe they realize that, if I make 2 alike, they'll probably flare about the same. I know Nancy's Notions has a pattern and/or kit containing fabrics for a knit tee-shirt type top, skirt and tie belt for up to size 6; these girls are already size 7 and I'd like to find something I can use for a few years. Circular skirts never go out-of fashion. If someone can point me in the right direction, I'll appreciate it very much and DGD will thank you, too.



BTW, I am traveling to Wisconsin Dells, leaving Friday morning and will be out of touch with all of you for about 10 days, till we return. DS has to clear out his aunt's home and get it on the market. It will be traumatic for him, so I am going along to keep him company. I love to travel and I love the area around the Dells, but not to do this chore,especially in mid-July. It's about 1350 miles each way and we'll take about 3 days going up and retuning. I'll be online tomorrow morning and then back the 14th-15th.



I hope everyone enjoys this week, especially those in the USA on this 4th of July. Emily


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M

There's a free thing called Pattern-Making Calculator here:

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someone posted somewhere a while back, and it will help you find the right circumferences to draft those circle skirts yourself.

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J

My page "A Circle with a Hole in It" will also do that, though I've had a complaint that it's hard to understand. (I *think*; the post was in German, which I almost read.)

My favorite scheme -- which I haven't had a chance to try out when I'm two years behind on making things I'll actually wear -- is to piece a circle skirt from trapezoids, thus using every square inch of the fabric to make a maximally-full skirt. If the skirt is made from a single length of fabric, the width at the hem would be twice the width of the fabric, minus the waist measurement and the seam allowances. If made from two lengths, it would be four times the width, minus waist and seams.

Also minus whatever you tore off one selvage to make the waistband, unless you want a contrasting waistband.

Serving the theme of "use every thread to produce fullness", I'd assemble the skirt with pre-graded flat-felled seams. Except the selvage seam or seams; if it's a good selvage, I'd press that seam open to make it easier to put in the zipper.

One of these years, I'll have to think this thing through and write up a Web page -- that would be almost as much fun as making the skirt, it would be a lot less work, and it wouldn't take up any space in my closet.

Joy Beeson

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A

Joy, I've had the same thought but haven't been able to get my head round it.

The piece of material I've been thinking of doing this way is a 60" wide,

1yd long denim. As I am short even 30" is too long for me but I don't want it to be any shorter than 25". I'm thinking that the bottom of the trapezoid, with 1/2" seams, should be 11" at the raw cut and the waist should be 5 1/2". This should leave me with triangles at the ends(?) for another full panel. Yes? No? I haven't even been able to figure this out on graph paper. I used to be so good in math. What happened?? Without wasting some other fabric how do I figure this out?

AK in PA

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