my circle skirt turned out big enough for an elephant, WTF!?
September 14, 2009 by Lex
Filed under Clothing, Sewing, Tutorials + How Tos, WhatTheCraft.com Tutorials
Was your circle skirt too big when you were finished?
Did you cheat?
Tell the truth, now…
I bet you tried to skip all the math and do this:
Say you wanted the waist hole to be 32 inches. Cutting the circle can be a real bitch. So you fold the fabric in half twice, and then you divide that measurement by 4. This gives you 8 inches. You measure a line that’s 8 inches long, because lines are easier to draw. But you really need a circle, so you just sort of draw a curved lined around it.
If you look at the gap between your 8 inch line and the curved line, there are several inches of extra space in there. Now multiply that space time 4, and that’s where you got a skirt that’s ridonkulously big.
If you really want to skip most of the math, get yourself a bendable ruler. That way, you can make the ruler curved and use that instead of all those calculations.
Or you can do the math one, trace it on a piece of paper, and have it already done on a pattern that you can use over and over again.
Kristi @ Creative Kristi on Thu, 26th Aug 2010 6:28 am
Yeah no I did the math and a pattern and everything and it’s about 10 inches too big for my waist. I just sew a seam to close up the 10 inches and cut off the rest. but I was trying to not have a seam.
Lex on Thu, 26th Aug 2010 5:20 pm
Were you using very stretchy fabric? I’ve had some circle skirts end up really huge when I tried using slinky stretchy fabrics.
Gina on Tue, 8th Mar 2011 6:32 pm
I had this problem too, even with non-stretchy fabrics.. You just have to cut it A LOT smaller than you think you’ll need, and keep making it a teeny bit bigger. Every fabric acts differently, so you just have to be super super careful.
Ti Anderson on Tue, 10th May 2011 12:09 pm
When i made a circle skirt for a friend it turned out big enough for the both of us! Since we were in a hurry (60′s dance in two hours lol) I just made a waistband the length of the huge opening in the skirt, sewed it on and gathered it alot on the elastic. It turned out pretty well and though we didn’t win the prize she had a huge amount of fun twirling around in it
upula on Mon, 11th Jul 2011 7:52 pm
well i loved the skirt it turned ot gnourmus but i stiched like a butt
MalteseLizzieMcGee on Sun, 29th Jan 2012 8:18 am
I’ve had that happen a few time, due to careless cutting on my part. I just pleated the excess into the waist band.
ana on Sat, 17th Mar 2012 8:10 pm
I loved the instructions – I did your math, but when calculating the circumference needed I multiplied to get 90% of the original waistline and then subtracted 1/4 inch from the total required ( I was working on a 2 year old). It worked like a charm leaving me a 1/2 seam allowance. Thanks!!
Lex on Sun, 18th Mar 2012 12:16 pm
Thanks for that tip, Ana! A percentage would definitely be a more accurate way if you’re sizing the pattern up or down!
Natalie on Mon, 2nd Apr 2012 11:38 am
You could always sew in some elastic… if it’s as oversized as you imply, that should be enough for a cute gathered circle skirt (like the one I’m wearing right now! ;3).