Just Sew: Wrap-Around Circle Skirt

Earlier this summer, I made a similar skirt for Skirting the Issue over at Project Run and Play.  My youngest was my model and she really loved how comfortable it was and the mushroom appliques.  Because I sew primarily from thrifted materials, my final products are often one-of-a-kind and tough to duplicate.  Luckily, I made the original skirt from a large stash of turquoise jersey someone donated to our local thrift store, and had enough leftover to make her a skirt, too.

I began with a standard circle skirt using the tutorial at Made.  Since this is for a young girl, I like the coverage, shape, and fullness a circle skirt gives, as opposed to using a long, rectangular shape if I were making a wrap-around skirt for myself.  Once I had the fabric cut, I made an additional cut from the bottom of the skirt to the top in just one section.  At this point I began the tedious task of finishing all of the edges.  You could use a serger or a zig-zag stitch to do this.  If you are using a jersey knit you can also leave the edges unfinished, if you like that look.

The next step involved wrapping the skirt around my daughter's waist and marking where a hook and eye closure would go inside the skirt (on the right in the picture) and where the buttons and elastic loop would go on the outside of the skirt (on the left in the picture).  I just placed paper clips in each of these spots, but you could use pins or chalk or an erasable fabric marker.

The concept for the visible closure uses two buttons and a colorful elastic hair band (we have all graduated to boring black around here).  This allows some flexibility when wrapping because you can double or triple wrap the hair band around the button to make the skirt tighter.  I hand sewed the hair band to the skirt and then positioned the button over it so each hole was on either side of the hair band.  This keeps it very secure and hides where you had to sew the band to the skirt.  I then sewed the second button onto the skirt where I had placed the paper clip.

Lastly, I added the mushroom appliques to give it a little personality.  My youngest is very happy with this skirt and is currently planning on wearing it on the first day of school.