Drawstring Skirt Tutorial Part I

Here is my first try at writing a sewing tutorial!

Drawstring skirts are very easy and inexpensive to make.

Here I am making a baby/toddler skirt. The finished length is about 12 inches.




Supplies:
1/2 yard of 44/45" wide pre-washed and ironed cotton fabric.
1 yard of lace for the bottom hem
A 3 x 2 inch piece of fusible interfacing or fusible web
Two large eyelet sets and eyelet tools (the tools come in most of the packages)
A hammer
A safety pin small enough to fit in the eyelet hole




Before you measure and cut your fabric make sure your edges are straight on the grain. What I do is make a little cut on the selvage close to the edge and rip the fabric across to the other selvage end. From there I measure the desired length I need. The selvage is the two sides of the fabric that do not unravel.

For a baby/toddler size measure off a 13 inch length. I usually just make a cut at the 13 inch length on the selvage and rip the fabric across to the other selvage. Now you should have a nice 13 x 44 inch piece of fabric for your skirt.Trim off the selvages.

Here in the picture I was measuring off 18 inches for my young girl's size drawstring skirt. You can see where I am starting to rip it.



Now with the extra fabric measure and cut a 1 1/2 inch (x 44) strip for the drawstring and set aside.

For my baby/toddler size I trim my 13 x 44 piece of fabric down to 13 x 33 inches.


Fold the 13 x 33 inch piece of fabric in half right sides together so the two 13 inch edges meet. Sew together with a 5/8th inch seam.




Press your seam open.



You can leave your seam like it is or finish it with a zig zag or other stitch to prevent the seam from fraying with many washings.

Here I am finishing my seam with a mock french seam.

With the seams pressed open flat fold and press each seam edge back toward the main seam.




Now pin the folded seam allowances together, press and sew close to the edge. Press finished seam to one side.



Check back for part II !