making know how

making know how

Make an appliqud full circle skirt inspired by vintage 1950s souvenir skirts.
By Jeanne Spaziani
a further 1cm seam allowance all the way
around the entire waistband.

You will need

3.5m4m fabric (the exact amount
depends on the width of your fabric
and the length of your skirt) in any of
the following: cotton chambray, poplin,
corduroy, linen or velveteen
Iron-on interfacing for the waistband
20cm zip
A button or skirt hook to close the
waistband
Scissors
Needle and thread
Sewing machine
Iron
Ruler
Tape measure
Bondaweb
Scrap fabrics for the motifs
48 fish buttons (optional)

Cutting out

4. The little cutting out diagram shows the

best way to interlock your two half circles
when cutting them out. Snip a tiny notch (no
more than 5mm deep) to mark the centres
front and back. Cut out one waistband
and from the same pattern piece cut the
waistband interfacing. Make a little snip to
mark where the 3cm underlap line is.

Sewing side seams

Drawing the half circle pattern

1. Measure around your waist and divide

that number by 6.3. This gives you the
correct radius to draw your waist curve
with. Going by the diagram on page 83,
draw your half circle. Weve all seen those
uneven hems on circle skirts; this is because
the fabric has dropped on the bias and was
not levelled before being hemmed. On the
diagram the dotted line at the hem shows
a basic correction to allow for this. I usually
shave off 3cm where the bias is; you can
level the skirt further if needed when you try
it on later. Taffeta or a tightly woven cotton
will drop less than a velvet or linen so there
is no way to be precise here just be aware
it will drop to some extent.
2. On one side seam make a notch 20cm
below the waist. This will be the left side
seam where you sew in your zip. For seam
allowances add 1cm seam to the waist, 1.5cm
on the side seams and 2cm on the hem.

5. Begin by sewing the left side seam from

hem up to the zip notch. Seam allowances
can be most simply neatened by zig zag
sewing over them or trimming with pinking
shears. Press the seam open and insert
your zip. Either a centred zip or a lapped
zip works fine though personally I think a
lapped zip looks nicer. After the zip is in,
sew the right side seam too. Stay stitch the
waistband near the 1cm sewing line. Dont
skip this step! A circular waist can stretch
quite a bit and the stay stitching really will
help keep it from stretching too much. It
also gives a good guide for when you sew
your waistband on.

Waistband

6. Iron your waistband interfacing onto the

waistband fabric. With right sides facing
in sew the ends closed and turn it right
sides out and press. Fold the waistband in
quarters, not including the button underlap,
and snip-mark the quarter waist points. Pin
one side of the waistband to your skirt so
the underlap is at the back on the left side
seam and the front finishes flush with the
zip. Match the quarter points of the skirt to
the ones you just snipped on the waistband.

7. Pin carefully easing the skirt waist smoothly

onto the band and sew in place. I sew with
the skirt on top so I can see if any little
3. For the waistband draw a
pin tucks are being made as my
long rectangle the length of
machine sews along and can
your waist and twice the
then use a pin to smooth
width you would like the
them away before they go
1. If you have the time edging
finished band to be. For
the motifs with blanket stitching and under the needle. After
example 4cm is a nice
sewing, clip into the
adding other little running stitched
finished width so you
curves of the skirt seam
details would look wonderful.
would make your pattern
allowance and press it
2. You can easily make yourself
8cm wide. On one end
towards the waistband.
a fluffy 50s style petticoat to wear
add 3cm extra. This will
under your skirt. The Burdastyle
be the underlap on the
8. Fold the seam
website has some instructions:
www.burdastyle.com/
waistband that the button
allowance of the other
projects/the-50swill be sewn on to later. Add
side of the waistband under
petticoat

Tips

12

www.craftsinstitute.com

and hand sew to the skirt waist. At the same

time fold back the allowances of the 3cm
underlap and slip stitch it closed. You can
make a button hole and sew the button on
now too. A flat skirt hook works well here if
you dont want a button and buttonhole.

Hem

9. Give your skirt a good press and try it

on. Check the hem is fairly level; if not, trim
to make it so. A willing friend with a ruler
to help you mark the hem while you have it
on can be a good help here. After any final
trimming on your ironing board press back
1cm of the hem allowance to the inside of
the skirt easing the curves in as you go.

Sails ahoy circle skirt

10. Next, turn it up again and press the

second centimetre in place. Usually at this
point I pin the hem as well. With your hem
all ready now you can sew it either by hand
or on your sewing machine. I did mine
by machine and sewed a row at the very
bottom edge too to give it a crisp finish.

Appliqus

11. Draw out eight boats, eight flags and

eight waves from the template on page
82 onto the paper side of your Bondaweb.
Remember the finished motifs will be in
the opposite direction of what you draw so
print the main template accordingly. Iron
these onto your motif fabric following the
Bondaweb instructions and cut them all out
with sharp scissors.
12. To mark reasonably accurate placements
for the eight motifs first fold it with the side
seams together to find the centres front
and back. Then fold those centres back
over to the side seams to find the middle
line between them. You can make very
light creases with your iron to give yourself
vertical lines in the fabric to follow. With
some dressmakers chalk or pins mark about
8cm up from the hem and use these guides
to place and finally iron the motifs on.
13. As a final embellishment I sewed little
groups of shell buttons shaped like fish in
between each boat.

Resources

Pack of 50 shell fish-shaped buttons:

www.bijouxbeads.co.uk
Cotton chambray:
www.merchantandmills.com
White cotton, red and white ticking and red
linen used in motifs from designers scrap bag

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selvedge

placement of 1/2 circles for cutting out

side seam

a to b = your waist measurement divided by 6.3

b to c = skirt length a
b

side seam

straight grain

as

bi

for
bia
sd
rop

1/2 circle pattern

to
all
ow

centre front/back

3c

selvedge

allow three and a half to four meters for

an adult sized circle skirt

hem
c

d
e
t
ec
r
r
co