I’m a pathetic sewer who has always meant to learn what to do properly, so I’m thrilled today to bring you a guest blog from Louise of thelittlethingsinlife.me.uk who’s going to walk you through the steps to making your own circle skirts.

Circle skirts always seem to add a touch of class. They are undoubtedly one of the most effective pieces of clothing and they are pretty easy to make as well. Moving on to the pattern, it will require a little bit of maths but nothing too scary!

Circumference = the entire distance around a circle (in this case, your waist length, plus 2 inches)

Radius = the distance from the centre of the circle to the outside of the circle
pi = 3.14 (approximately)

Here are the steps

1.Measure your waist. Once you have your waist measurement add two inches to that number. This will give you an extra two inches so that there’s “give” and it will actually “stretch” when it’s sewn onto the elastic.  

2. Decide how long you want your skirt to be. Add an extra inch for the hem and the top seam (near the elastic). It’s always best to make it slightly longer than you think, so you have room for error. Fold your fabric in half, and along the folded edge, cut a large half-donut shape, as shown. Measure the inner half circle (waist) by finding your waist radius using the following equation: waist measurement / 3.14 / 2 = radius

3. Waistband – you will need your waist measurement for this with the extra 2 inches. Measure and cut out of the fabric (see photo) Once you have this 1½ inches piece of fabric cut out you can start sewing it together leave one side unsewn this is where you will be threading your elastic through. I attached a safety pin to the end of my elastic and threaded it through the piece of fabric.

4. Now you have made the waistband you can attach it to the circle skirt. I normally use a zig zag edge.

5. Hem the bottom of the skirt. I like to use webbing and iron flat the hem before securing it with sewing.