If you don’t know how to make a circle skirt yet, check out the Circle Skirt tutorial first, because all of these skirts build on the basic premise of a circle skirt.
dress by SmarmyClothes.com
Difficulty:
Variation 1 – double full circle skirt
Instead of cutting 1 donut with a center cirumference of 36″ (the number we used in our examples), cut 2 donuts with a center circumference that is half your desired waistband measurement. In this example, each hole should measure 18″. The desired length (16″ from our example) should stay the same.
Cut the donuts open (red line).
Variation 1
Lay the donuts Right Sides Together, with the cuts lined up. Sew the donuts together as indicated by the purple dotted line. You will wind up with a very full and flouncy circle skirt.
Variation 1
Variation 2 – handkerchief hem or pixie skirt
Cut the center “waist” hole out of your fabric, but leave the edges square. Now you have a classic hanky hem skirt!
This is a good one if you’re in a hurry, because it’s one less step.
You can cut several of these squares out and layer them around the hem for a different look. Try cutting the a top layer out of a sheer fabric and layer it over something opaque!
Variation 2
Variation 3 – double full pixie skirt
This is a combination of variations 1 and 2, and it might be my favorite circle skirt variation. (The photo at the beginning of this post has two double full pixie skirts layered over one another.)
Cut two squares, each having a circumference half of what you want the total to be. Cut them open, sew them together, and you’ve got a very swishy pixie skirt.
Variation 3
Variation 4 – asymmetrical layered circle skirt
Instead of centering the “waist” hole, cut it off-center. You could do 1 layer like this, and it looks especially nice if you make the back much longer than the front. It has a cool cascading effect. Or you can do 2 or more wonky donuts and layer them over one another.
Variation 4
Thanks so much for the tutorials! Do you know how to do a 3/4 circle skirt?
Here’s a tutorial for 1/2 and 3/4 circle skirts: http://katiekadiddlehopper.blogspot.com/2010/08/circle-skirt-tutorial-part-2-12-and-34.html
For the first one, where you say “Cut the donuts open and sew them together”, how do you sew them together, so where do you sew?
Rainbow Blues
xx
Silly me, I made the cut lines white so they don’t show up very well… They’re at the bottom center of each donut, if you look closely, though.
As usual, my attempts at explaining this in words is not working, so I’ve uploaded an additional diagram that should help.
Thanks for the question!
I love all your tutorials!! I have so much inspiration now, I’ve seen every single one of them =)
I just keep coming back to circle skirts because they’re so simple!
Where you did the double full circle skirt; it is possible to do it 3 or 4 or even looooooooads of times if you wanted. I made some skirts like that with this as inspiration =P
Thanks, Gina!
I made a skirt once that was the equivalent of a quadruple circle skirt… it really is an awesome effect!
Hehe I love you for this <3
Very interesting take on the circle skirts. So basically, two circle skirts that are aligned, but not so aligned, right? Thanks for the idea.
Exactly! You’re welcome!
nice curves and that outfit is cuTe!thanks i’ve learn alot and i’m just a beginner
And another variation!! Asymmetrical layered handkerchief skirt! Same thing as the last variation but without cutting the outside into a circle.. looks super cool with some funky boots and polka dot tights
Love all your tutorials. Thanks a ton for sharing.
My question is on another variation of a circle skirt. I saw this skirt and loved it and need to figure it out with some help please.
It is a full circle skirt, but when laid out it looks like a spider web almost. It has eight cutouts around the outside of the skirt (almost like the creator used a plate to trace and cut out eight times). I would use knit fabric and not hem it. Not sure I am giving you enough info. I will be attaching it to a tee to create a dress.
Thank you.
Laurie-
Do you have a picture or maybe a sketch? I’m having a hard time picturing it in my head!
I will say from the description, I would worry about doing any sort of large cut out on the skirt, unless the skirt is going to be sewn to an underlayer. A large cut on any skirt is likely going to sag (or maybe that’s the intent??).
Thank you for your response. I was pretty sure you were going to need a picture. I messaged you on What The Craft FB Page. It might be in your other folder. Thanks so much. When it hangs it looks similar to a hankercheif skirt, but without all the work of sewing the panels together.
Using one of your ruffle tutorials for dress sleeves today.
Thank you!
Hi Lex,
I though this would be easy, but HA HA on me, I did the measure as you said to make a circle shirt but it still looks to big. I am trying to get a 36″ waist. HELP Mary B.
Hi Mary-
The radius you should use would be about 5.25″. You could even go down to 5″. If it’s still too big, then all I can say is… make it smaller!
Hello WTC, Sorry to be so thick but I want to make this super flared skirt for my 4year old grandaughter who loves twirling about, but I can’t see how I measure the hole in the donut for her waist? Maybe I missed that part… but say for example her waist is 20″, what size would i cut the hole? I know. I am stupid. I was going to start with a very tiny hole and keep adjusting. I will do that if I dan’t get a reply from you. Warm regards. Linda.
Hi Linda-
Have you seen the first part of the tutorial for the circle skirt?
http://whatthecraft.com/circle-skirt-tutorial-new-and-improved/
That page explains how to calculate all of the measurements.
But essentially, for a 20″ waist you want a 20″ hole, though I generally recommend cutting the hole about 2-4 inches smaller, as it will stretch. So I would start with a 16″ hole and adjust from there, as needed.