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Kids, Sewing

Girls Knit Maxi Skirt Tutorial

by Brooke · on August 26, 2013 · 14 Comments ·

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How to Make a Knit Maxi Skirt

We are on the Riley Blake Fabrics Design Team, and love working with their beautiful fabric! I guest posted this tutorial on their blog a few weeks ago and I’m sharing with you today.

I’m going to share how to make a knit maxi skirt featuring the amazingly cute cotton jersey knits by Riley Blake Designs! I had a lot of fun making some darling maxi skirts for my young daughters. For this tutorial I made a skirt with a yoga-style waistband for ultimate comfort. 🙂

Sewing a maxi skirt for girls

Supplies needed to make a knit maxi skirt:

Riley Blake Knits for Maxi Skirts

 

  • 1 yard jersey knit fabric–this is enough fabric to make one skirt for a young girl, I made this one to fit girls size 8-10 (and check out the fun patterns and colors–polka dots, chevron, stripes, oh my!)
  • Sewing Machine
  • Coordinating Thread (I used white)
  • Scissors
  • Cutting mat
  • Rotary cutter
  • Tape measure/ruler
  • Pins (I used ball point pins specifically to use with knits)
  • Ball point sewing machine needle–this is also specific for sewing with knits

Maxi Skirt Tutorial

Pre-wash fabric and tumble dry on low.

Set your sewing machine to either a stretch stitch setting or a narrow zigzag to allow for stretch. The tension is set at 4. You could also use a “walking foot” to help guide the knit through easier. For this project I used my regular foot.

These are the settings I used–narrow zig zag:

Maxi Skirt Pattern

To determine size of skirt, take all your measurements beforehand.

Measure:

  • Waist
  • Length from waist to floor (or however long you want the skirt to be)

Knit Maxi Skirt Instructions

You will need to cut 4 pieces of fabric–2 skirt, 2 waistband.

To cut out the angled skirt pieces both at the same time, fold fabric in fourths lengthwise. For the length I cut the fabric at 24 inches long.

Knit Maxi Skirt tutorial

For the top and bottom measurements, take the waist width and divide that number by 2 (since you’ll have 2 pieces of fabric, front and back), then add 1 inch for seam allowance. For example, for a 27 inch waist, divide that by 2 to get 13.5 inches, then add 1 inch to make 14.5 inches.

( Waist) 27/2= 13.5 + 1 (seam allowance)= 14.5 inches

For the bottom, I wanted it to be more of an a-line than a straight skirt, so I made the bottom 4 inches wider on each side. So I added 8 inches total to the width of 14.5 (that we just figured out above) to make the bottom of the skirt 22.5 inches wide.

Now we’re going to measure from the fold. Since the fabric is folded not in half but in fourths, we need to divide our measurements by 2 again. So for the top waist, I measured out 7.25 from center fold and pinned. (14.5 divided by 2 = 7.25 inches)

Measuring Maxi Skirt

For the bottom width, I measured out 11.25 inches from center fold (22.5 divided by 2 = 11.25 inches). Pin fabric.

Maxi Skirt Tutorial

Place ruler at an angle, connecting the two pins from top to bottom of skirt.

How to make a knit maxi skirt

I put some heavy “weights” on the ruler and fabric so the knit wouldn’t slip while cutting. 🙂

Cutting maxi skirt

Cut fabric at angle with rotary cutter. You will end up with two pieces of material for the skirt. (Photo shows skirt before I unfolded it.)

Knit maxi skirt pattern

Place right sides of fabric together and pin the sides lengthwise.
knit maxi skirt

Jersey knit will not unravel, so you do not need to do anything to finish the inside seams. Sew a 1/2 inch seam, being careful not to stretch the fabric. Just gently guide it through so it doesn’t pucker up.

Sewing a knit maxi skirt

Once both sides are sewn together, make skirt right side out and press.

knit maxi skirt

For a yoga-style waistband, measure and cut out two rectangular pieces. For the skirt I made, I took the waist measurement of 27 inches and divided by 2, then subtracted a few inches to make the waistband snug since knit is stretchy. Then I added a 1 inch seam allowance.

27 inches divided by 2 inches = 13.5 inches. Subtract 2 inches (so it’s not too loose) = 11.5 inches + 1 inch seam allowance = 12.5 inches

In order to create a waistband that can be folded down, I decided I wanted the finished, folded band to be 4 inches tall. So I cut the length 9 inches (8 inches since you will be folding it in half + 1 inch seam allowance).

My pieces were cut 12.5 inches wide by 9 inches long.

Place fabric right sides together. Pin both sides and sew with 1/2 inch seam on each side.

knit maxi skirt

Fold band in half with the right sides out,  like this:

knit maxi skirt foldable waistband

 

knit maxi skirt

To attach waistband to skirt, slide the raw top edge of skirt through the waistband loop to match up with the waistband’s raw edges. Line up the side seams and the raw edge of the skirt with the 2 raw edges of the waistband, and pin.

knit maxi skirt

Stitch the waistband to the skirt, stretching the waistband to fit the skirt and create a natural gather. I pinned it in several places to help with this.

knit maxi skirt

Here’s what it looks like once the two pieces are sewn together, before folding the waistband up the right way.

knit maxi skirt-5721

Here is the finished skirt with the waistband straight:

knit maxi skirt

And here is the waistband folded over:

knit maxi skirt

How to Sew  Maxi Skirt

Since knit doesn’t fray or unravel, you don’t have to hem the bottom. Try on the skirt and if it’s too long, you can just cut off the excess fabric at the bottom.

But if you want a more finished look, just fold the fabric under and top stitch with a zig zag or stretch stitch. Just make sure to add an extra inch to your length when cutting the fabric at the beginning.

My girls LOVE their comfortable knit maxi skirts! Perfect for back to school!

knit maxi skirt tutorial

About Brooke

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Comments

  1. JJ says

    August 26, 2013 at 8:18 pm

    I’m new to sewing, but my local fabric stores don’t care jersey knits. Where can I buy that type of fabric for a reasonable price? Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Helen says

    September 3, 2013 at 11:43 pm

    Wow they look fantastic, can’t wait to make several for my granddaughter, great instructions

    Reply
  3. Sharon says

    September 8, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    Where did you find the cute patterned fabric?

    Reply
    • Brooke says

      September 9, 2013 at 11:11 am

      Riley Blake Fabrics– http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com

      Reply
      • kenzie says

        February 9, 2015 at 9:41 am

        Thanks! i love the fabric now my shirt will be perfect!

        Reply
  4. Lisa says

    September 20, 2013 at 12:14 pm

    So cute! I love working with jersey knits and usually get mine from http://www.organiccottonplus.com, but I’ll check out your source too.

    Reply
  5. Dawn says

    November 29, 2014 at 11:21 am

    So I’m struggling with the fold in fourths part….is that fold in half and then in half again?? That doesn’t seem right…. My brain isn’t working and hubby isn’t home to help me.

    Reply
    • Jess says

      December 9, 2014 at 9:17 am

      Dawn, that’s how I did it….fold in half, then half again. Works brilliantly. 🙂

      Thanks for the super easy instructions on doing this for a little girl. Everytime I tried a tutorial for a woman’s maxi skirt, there just wasn’t a successful skirt to come out of it for my lean, string bean of a 9 year old.

      This however, nailed it……every time!

      Reply
  6. Tina says

    May 22, 2015 at 1:54 pm

    Thank you for the great tutorial! I am newer to sewing and this was so easy!!!! 😀

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    […] Girls Knit Maxi Skirt Tutorial – 1 freebie(s)? […]

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528 shares