Maxi skirt tutorial!

My fabric arrived and I made some maxi's!! So I put together a little tutorial. Please post any questions in the comments or on the facebook page and I will do my best to answer them!

My fabric was 50-60 inches wide or something and I only used about a yard. I ordered 2 yards just to be safe but I'm short and will probably be able to get another skirt out of each of the fabrics! ($5 a yard, $5 per skirt)

First, I stretched the fabric to find which way the grain of the stretch went. You want to make sure the stretch runs horizontally across your body. I held it up to myself to judge how long it should be (which ended up being the fabric folded perfectly in half with the grain of the stretch running horizontally). Laying the fabric on the floor, I measured my waist and cut the measurement in half for the top of the skirt. As you can see in the photo above, I just cut a line diagonally from the waist measurement at the top toward the bottom of the fabric. Nothing fancy. If you wanted to, you could use a straight edge and a rotary cutter to make it perfect, but jersey fabric is very forgiving so it's okay to do it like this, too.

I wanted to make a wide, fold-over waistband so I used a different fabric and cut it about 2 inches shorter than the top of the skirt (you really want it to be snug so the skirt doesn't fall off, mine ended up being a little big and I had to adjust it later).

I sewed the sides of the skirt pieces together, right sides together, and hemmed the bottom of the skirt. When using jersey material, it's fine to fold it once and zig-zag stitch it. It won't fray, so there's no need to fold it over twice. I used a zig-zag stitch on every seam in this project because I read that it allows for more give in stretchy fabrics. If you don't have a serger, this is the way to go.

The skirt is ready for a waistband! I sewed up my tube, right sides together.

To attach the waistband to the skirt, fold your tube in half length-wise with the seam hidden inside the fold. Your waistband will be smaller than the top of your skirt, so I pinned it in a few places and then stretched it as I sewed to make it fit. Sew your raw ends together with the waistband on the outside of the skirt (see photo).

There you have it! A completed maxi skirt for around $5! I had to adjust the hemline at the bottom of my skirt after I added the waistband because it adds a little length. This would be an amazing maternity skirt because you can make the waistband as wide as you'd like and it can go up over your belly and be really comfy. Another way to do the waistband is to use 2 inch wide elastic and make a casing for it at the top of your skirt. I also thought it might be cute to use elastic thread to make a gathered top, I may try that next....endless possibilities.