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Women’s Skirt with Yoga Style Waist Band
March 25, 2011 - By Ashley Johnston 60 Comments
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Did you see the little yoga waistband skirt that I made
for
my little girl a few weeks ago (found
here)?
Well, after she slipped that on, I got jealous. Like completely jealous. The skirt is so light and airy…….and that waist band. Ahhhhh, I was smitten with that waistband. Oh, and I love a nice light skirt for summer.Â
(I have about 5 of the Lily style skirts from my pattern shop in my closet for the hot weather. Another light and comfy skirt option.)
So I made one for me. Out of some great flow-y jersey knit fabric that I found.
If I would have made it in time, this skirt would have been fabulous for maternity wear too. You can keep the band folded up to help it stay on over a pregnant belly or fold it down for cozy comfort. But I’ll just be needing it to disguise this post baby belly. You know how that goes…
And I can’t wait to get some great use out of her over the next 6 months. Or 10 months. You know how warm the weather is here in Georgia.
And the skirt is about knee length on me (maybe a tad longer)…….but on this body form, it looks mid-calf. I guess I’m probably 8 inches taller than this body form. That’s how it goes being 5’11”……usually taller than most. (But hey, I can always reach those top stock shelves at the stores where they hide the extra stuff. Ha.)
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The waistband is nice and tall and can be worn up or down (you know, in case you have a pregnant belly) and really elongates that waistline…..if you need some elongating. :)
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You may completely fall in love with the coziness of the this skirt………and may want 3 or 4 in your closet for these warmer months ahead of us. (The skirt looks great with the shirt un-tucked too.)
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I made this skirt using the same concept as the
little girl’s yoga style skirt (
found here) except I didn’t use an old Tshirt as the fabric.
I made this skirt from some jersey knit that I got at a random fabric store in Atlanta a while ago. (Sorry, no links, or any other way to help you get some from them………just try looking for knit at fabric stores locally or online.)
**EDITED: You’ll need anywhere from 1.5 – 2 yards of fabric for this skirt. (Or more or less.) It will vary depending on how tall you are, what size you are, how full you want the skirt, etc. Decide on what measurements you want/need your skirt to be and then figure out how much fabric you’ll need.
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First, I made the waist band the size that I wanted it. You’ll need to cut a strip of knit fabric that will be sewn into a tube and then folded over in half………and then attached to the top of your main skirt section, just like the yoga skirt that I linked to above. To cut a piece of fabric that will fit your waist just right, measure your waist (or where you want it to rest on your hips or below the waist, etc.) and then subtract several inches from that measurement. There is no elastic in this waistband……just stretchy knit. So you want it to fit snugly so that it won’t fall down. (Wrap your knit around your waist and test it out. See how much fits your waist snugly, then measure how wide that is and use that as your width measurement.) So if your waist is 30 inches, depending on how stretchy your knit is, you’ll want to subtract a few inches from the width of the waistband so that it stays up. If your knit is pretty stretchy, you may want to subtract 5 inches from your waist measurement……….making the width 25 inches across. (I used this same concept when I made the pregnancy belly bands, found here.) Then, decide how tall you want your band to be and then double that measurement…….because the waist band gets folded in half before being sewn on, and then you can fold it over again while wearing it. So if you wear the waistband folded down, there are actually 4 layers of knit around your waist while wearing the skirt. (No worries, most knits are thin and don’t add a lot of bulk.) I wanted my waistband to be about 4 inches tall after it was folded over. (I’m tall and like a tall waistband…..you may not want yours so tall.) So if I wore the waistband up with a pregnant belly, it would be 8 inches tall. SO that means I needed a piece of fabric that was 16 inches tall, but with the seam allowance added on, 17 inches tall.
**Also, be sure that the width of the waist band is stretching left to right around your waist, not from top to bottom. You want the stretch to pull across your waist, helping the skirt to stay up.
Then try on the waist band…….make sure that it fits snugly after it’s folded over.
Then cut a piece for the main part of the skirt, that has enough of a seam allowance at the top (where you’ll add it to the waistband) and then enough of a seam allowance at the bottom if you’re going to hem under your skirt. Sew it into a tube just like the tube shape of the bottom of the shirt that I used to make my little girl’s skirt that I linked to up above. You’re going to want to gather the tube at the top, just like I did with the little girl skirt. So cut the piece of fabric 1.5-2 times as big as your hip measurement. So if your hips are 30 inches (mine aren’t!), cut your piece of fabric 45-60 inches wide……depending on how full you want the skirt.
Then gather the main skirt section and then attach the waistband to the main section of the skirt…….just like shown in the other tutorial (
found here).
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For the bottom of the skirt, you can either fold it under and hem it (use a zig zag with knit, so that it won’t stretch or pull) or just finish off the edge with a narrow stitch. Practice on some scrap fabric if you’re not sure how your knit will react with certain stitches. I actually used a rolled-hem stitch on
my serger…….and it turned out great.
And that’s it.
My little knit skirt is done. And very loved.
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