A-Line Skirt Tutorial

Ava's A-line Skirt was not too difficult to make.  She has this cute sweater and I remembered I had some fun Damask fabric to go with it so I decided to try making her a skirt to match. She loves it!  following these shots of her is how I made it...

Ava is 3  and average frame, so this skirt is made to fit that.  I first cut my fabric 28 in x 12 1/4 in.

Then I cut the fabric in half so 2 pieces each measuring 14 x 12 1/4 in.

With right sides together,  I stitched  the one side measuring 12 1/4 inches together to make a seam on one side only.

 Next I made a casing for the elastic waistband for the top of the skirt.  I would recommend you make this a little bit bigger than 1 inch, maybe 1 1/4 in for working room. Fold and press the fabric 1 1/4 in and then stitch it closed to make the casing.

Next I worked on the bottom ruffle of the skirt.  I cut a strip of Fabric 2 1/2 in. x 32 in, but I recommend maybe making it a little longer to give yourself some working room, maybe 35 inches or so...

I did a Double roll Hem which I pressed to make it easier to stitch. I did each roll 1/4 inch, so fold it 1/4 inch and press it to make a roll, then fold another 1/4 inch roll and press to give it a nice finished edge... next stitch that double roll hem closed so its ready to go.

Once the Hem is stitched then you can make your Gather. To make a Gather stitch set your stitch spacing as far a you can on your machine. At the top of the ruffle, the opposite end of your double roll hem,  make two rows of stitches with long thread lengths at the ends to use for pulling the gather.  {Notice how the gather stitch is at the top of the ruffle and the hem is at the bottom of the ruffle.}

Once you have stitched your two rows, take your 2  top threads and pull to make your gathers. {Pretty simple and fun huh?}

Next I laid out my big piece of fabric that I made my casing for and laid it right side up.  Remember the casing is the top of the skirt and this ruffle that we just stitched is going to go at the bottom of the skirt.  Make sure you have your fabric in the right direction and with right sides together, fit and pin your gathered ruffle to the bottom of the skirt piece. {not too bad} ;) Stitch down that edge, you are going to stitch only the top of the ruffle to the bottom of the skirt piece.

This is what it looks like now that the ruffle is attached.

Next I fed the elastic through the waistband.  I used an elastic that I believe was a little less than an inch in width.  I measured it around Ava's waist and cut the elastic.  Her's measured around 21 in.  I left a little extra for working room.  I put a safety pin in the end of the elastic and fed it through the casing, being careful to not let the end of the elastic go through the casing.  I fit and slid the elastic to fit the waistband evenly along the top of the skirt.

I then turned the skirt inside out and stitched up my last side seam, making sure to sew through both ends the elastic waistband that I just pulled through the waistband casing and here is how it turned out...

I happened to have some extra large lace so I also just stitched that to the bottom of the ruffle to  give it a little accent... and here's the finished product.  See you did it!  Not too terrible {I hope}!

I hope you enjoy your skirt!  In one of my next posts, I'll share how I shot some of these images of Ava, she was so excited to go take these shots, she was making me laugh!

Have a great day!

With much Love and Gratitude,