“W” is for Wardrobe, Color Block Circle Skirt Tutorial {A-Z Series, “W”}

Who doesn’t want a fabulous wardrobe? I do, I do! I might have a slight love for clothes and accessories, cowboy boots…oh, and did I mention clothes? Amongst my list of clothes that I LOVE is cute and comfy skirts just like this incredibly fun and playful skirt that Terra, from mama says sew, is sharing with us and showing us just how incredible your little sweetie’s Back to School wardrobe will be with the addition of this little beauty in it. She will twirl and spin and dance her way right to her desk on that first school day!

Hey everyone! I’m Terra, and I blog over at mama says sew. I’m excited to be here at the Ribbon Retreat Blog as part of this fun series today!

When I got the letter “W”, I wasn’t coming up with anything other than watermelon. So I did a quick search for words that start with “W” and one of them was wardrobe. Well, every little girl needs some skirts in her wardrobe, and I thought it would be fun to do a color-blocked one that she could wear at school.

Since it was going to be for school, I wanted to include some shorts. These are sewn right in to the skirt, so on busy school mornings, she doesn’t have to search for both the skirt and the shorts.

And every good wardrobe needs accessories. So I used some other supplies from The Ribbon Retreat to make a flower headband to match the skirt. The flower is on a clip, so she can wear it in her hair (like the picture below) or on her skirt (like the picture above).

It is attached to a glitter elastic headband. And the flower comes with some bling!

Here are the supplies I used.

(The skirt I made was about a girls’ size 6. Your fabric requirements may be more or less depending on the size of skirt you make and the number of colors you use.)

For the Skirt:
Skirt Tiers 1 & 2: 1/2 yard each solid colored fabric
Skirt Tiers 3 & 4: 1 yard each solid colored fabric

Waistband: 1/4 yard knit fabric

Shorts: 1/2 yard knit fabric
Thread

For the Headband:
Gerbera Daisy
Glitter Elastic Headband
Double Prong Clip

Skirt Tutorial
First, start with a basic circle skirt pattern. I drafted my own using this tutorial. Then start breaking it up into tiers for color-blocking. Start at the top and measure down how far you want your first tier to go. Draw dots all around the skirt, then connect them to form a smooth curve.

Repeat until you have all of your tiers. I made mine gradually increase in thickness as I went down the skirt.

Cut it apart.

Now we’re going to add seam allowances. You will need to add them on the bottom of your first tier, the bottom and top of your middle two tiers, and the top of your fourth tier. This is because you should already have accounted for the top seam allowance and the hem allowance with the original circle skirt pattern.

Lay out your first tier and trace the top and sides. To add a seam allowance to the bottom, tape two pencils together. Keeping the first pencil on the original line, trace with the second pencil.

This will give you an approximately 3/8 inch seam allowance (measure to be sure). Sorry, it’s kind of hard to see. I used pencil for the inevitable mistakes I’d have to erase.

Once you have all your seam allowances added and your tiers cut out, it’s time to cut out fabric. You will be cutting on two folds. Fold the fabric in half (as it is on the bolt) and then in half again. Both straight edges of your pattern pieces should be lined up with two folds.

Here they are all cut out.

Each tier should be a complete circle when you unfold it.

Cut out shorts and a waistband. You can use a knit shorts or leggings pattern, or draft your own. For the waistband, length should be waist measurement (or slightly less) by 5 inches for a 2 inch high waist band and 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Start pinning your tiers together. Mark each fold line, so your circles are divided into quarters. On the two middle tiers, make sure you mark at both the top and the bottom of the tier. Line up your marks and pin the first two tiers right sides together.

It takes lots of pins! You can see that the second tier is much fuller than the one above it. It helps to sew with the fuller tier on top so that you can keep track of it and make sure you’re not catching the fullness in your seam.

Repeat for the other tiers until you have them all sewn together. Press your seams open.

Sew the shorts, except for the waist.

Fold the waistband right sides together and stitch.

Turn the waistband right side out and fold it in half. The raw edges of the seam should be completely enclosed.

Place the shorts right side out into the skirt. The skirt should also be right side out. The right sides of the shorts will match with the wrong sides of the skirt. Then place the waistband on the outside of the skirt. Pin through all four layers and sew with a stretch stitch. You will have to stretch the waistband and possibly the shorts to fit the skirt.

And there’s the skirt! Now on to the bow.

Get your supplies ready. You’ll also need a glue gun.

First, take the flower apart so that the pokey stem won’t jam into anyone’s head.

As you pull off the petals from the stem, keep them in the same order.

Glue all the petals back together.

And glue the rhinestone back on.

Glue the clip to the back.

Use the clip to attach the flower to the headband. Done!

Wahooo for wonderful Back to School wardrobes and super duper cute skirts! Do you have a daughter or girl that you know that would look incredibly fabulous in this fun skirt? Get ready to sew, because they will surely love this great color block skirt! Thank you Terra for sharing this little beauty! For more innovative and fun tutorials by this talented lady, make sure to visit her at mama says sew. But I must warn you, be prepared to get that sewing machine threaded and your fabric cutters ready, because you will truly be inspired to sew the day away…she has some amazing sewing project perfect for every level from very, very beginner to seasoned professional!

Check out these other great skirt tutorials that your little sweetie is going to love wearing, and you are going to love sewing!

What is your sweetie’s 1st of School outfit plans?

Happy Creating & Happy Wardrobe!