In my tutorial I am using quilter’s cotton and I am also demonstrating 3 different ways to change-up the skirt. I started my first skirt back in February with specific measurements based on standard sizes and my granddaughters walked right out of their skirts! They were way too big! My granddaughters are on the thin side, so that might be why. It also may have something to do with the fact that most little girls have no hips~they have bellies that sometimes are wider than their hips. So, I think when you are making really small skirts, you may need more help with personalizing the measurements.

After my second attempt to get the yoga style band the correct measurement…I drove to my daughter’s house with the yoga style bands all sewn up and we tried them on the girls and then tugged on them a bit to see how they would hold up. They looked pretty comical wearing a diaper and what appeared to be a turtleneck around their waist. I needed the bands to fit well because once the skirt part is put on, it is really difficult to change the width of the yoga panel. My final measurements were between 2-3 inches thinner than the girls measured waistline. I have only made sizes 12 month and 3T, so I am talking about little girls.

Here are the four sets of fabric combinations I will be using in the tutorial.  All of my knit fabric is from JoAnns and the cottons are all from local quilt shops (100% cotton).  Both types of fabric were washed, dried  and pressed before assembly.

From left to right you will see:  A skirt with a coordinating ruffle, a skirt with a matching ruffle, a skirt with a bottom band, and a skirt without a band or ruffle, but made with box pleats rather than gathered.  I will separate these into a few posts because the loading of pictures is too time comsuming and makes the post take longer when loading on some computers.

I am using lots of pictures in these tutorials because I believe that often, they do a better job than words.

We start with the measurements from my last successful set of skirts.  Kate is a 3 year old who needs a yoga band that measures 17 ” wide.  This is approximately 2-3 inches less than her waist.  I chose to make the height 13 inches because that would mean 6.5 inches folded over and I will lose approximately one inch (1/2 on either side of the band) once it is sewn to the skirt.  Caroline is 12 months old and her final yoga band measured 15 inches.  Her yoga band height was 8 inches.  I have labeled each piece with the measurement of the piece, the style I am making and who the skirt will belong to once completed.  I also tried to vary the colors and patterns so that you would have a variety of pictures in the event one color showed better than another. 

Measurements I used for my skirts:

12 month size-

yoga style waistband- 15 x 8 inches, main skirt panels- 7 x 42 inches, bottom band or ruffles 2 pieces, 2×42 inches

3 T size-

yoga style waistband- 17 x 13 inches, main skirt panel- 2 pieces, 9×31 inches, bottom band-2 pieces, 4×31 inches, ruffle- 3 pieces, 2.5 x 31 inches

All SEAMS ARE 1/2 ” THROUGHOUT THIS TUTORIAL

Materials used in this tutorial:

• cutting mat with rotary cutter
• acrylic ruler
• scissors
• pins
• 100% cotton thread
• embroidery thread (for gathering)
• sewing machine with zig zag stitch
• serger – to finish seams and make rolled hems
• iron and ironing surface
• knit and cotton fabrics

**the serger is a nice item to have, but it is totally possible to make these without a serger.  You could just use your zig zag stitch to finish the seams. 

If you want to try this on your little one, this is the time to do it.  Place the band around their waist and pull a little to see how snug it is.  Remember that the skirt will have some weight to it, therefore the band should be snug, but not uncomfortable.

The Flora and Fauna pattern skirt with a bottom band

Now we move on to the skirt panels.  The size 12 month skirt is the width of the fabric (normally 42 inches for quality cotton).  The 3T skirt panels are 2 panels 9 inches by 31 inches.  These are then sewn together.  Each skirt will have the panels sewn into a tube. 

At this point you should be marking the skirt band in the same fashion, so that you have the band divided into 4 equal parts.  I normally like my seam on the yoga style band to be in the back, and so I mark across from the seam and then inbetween the two.  A photograph of this is in the box pleat skirt.

The bottom band.

Now you fold the bottom band in half creating a long strip with wrong sides together.

All finished with the Yoga Style Skirt with a bottom band. 

The next post will show you how to make the box pleated skirt.  I will follow that up with the two ruffled skirts.  Uploading this many pictures is taking lots of time and making the post very long, so I am going to divide them up.  Please feel free to leave a comment as I am not a tutorial expert.
Thanks for visiting,