S4S- Extra-Curricular Activities, Part 3

This summer K1 and K2 took their first dance class.

We had nothing to wear!

So, I whipped up a couple little twirl skirts for the girlies-- super easy and fun!

Here's the how-to:

Supplies needed:

about 1 yard of knit fabric

about 20 inches of string/yarn/thick thread

dressmaker's pencil or marker of some kind

The basic concept is that you are going to make a larger circle for the skirt with a small circle exactly in the middle for the waist, then add a waistband.

Make sure you wash and dry your knit fabrics before you use them. I am not really one to pre-wash, mostly because I am lazy. But with knits, you never know how much or which way your fabric might shrink.

Pre-wash!

Cut one strip that is 10 inches wide by your child's waist measurement minus two inches. This should equal somewhere between about 20 and 25 inches if your girlie is between age 2 and 8.

This is your waistband.

Now we are going to make our circle. For my 6 year old and 5 year old, I wanted the skirt about 10 inches in length, but I wasn't extrememly worried about the length. With the waistband, we will need about a 32 inch by 32 inch square or slightly larger of fabric.

Fold the fabric in half and in half again. Cut about 20 inches of string.

Now, in my little world of winging it and just making do, I use a safety pin stuck in the carpet to make myself a circle. I am certain there are better/easier/more effective ways to create a circle. This works for me! ;0)

Cut about 20 inches of string. Use your safety pin to attach one end of the string to the very corner of your folded fabric.

Tie a pencil or marker on to the other end of your string, so that the measurement between the pin and the pen is 15 inches.

Carefully mark your circle, keeping the string taut the entire time.

Move your pen up to 4.5 inches from the pin and mark your waist circle.

Cut out both circles.

Sew your waistband together on the short ends. Fold in half with wrong sides together. Baste the bottom edges together.

Pin the skirt to the waistband in the front, back and two sides.

Sew the skirt to the waistband, stretching the waistband as you go to match the skirt.

And that's it! Unless you are super ambitious and want to finish the edges of your skirt. But since it is knit, it won't fray. And if you are REALLY talented (like me!), you will manage to catch the selvedge on the hem of your skirt. Totally planned it that way. . . TOTALLY.

Time to twirl, plie and jete!