Zipper-Free Half Circle Skirt Tutorial

Hello dearies! I hope you all had a stupendous weekend! We certainly did; and today we're going to be celebrating Charlotte's Birthday! I'm actually more excited for her birthday than I am for mine! :)
Well, today's the day that you all get to see the tutorial for how I made this skirt!
I have to say I'm rather nervous about putting this post up, because: 1) I've never put up a pattern drafting tutorial before. EEEKK! 2) I've only made this skirt once, so I haven't been able to test out my troubleshooting that I figured out as I made my skirt. You've been forewarned! If you have any troubles, or something doesn't make sense, do let me know and I'll see if I can help fix the problem. Well, now on to the tutorial!
First off, you will need to start off with a 1/2 circle skirt pattern that you know fits you. Here's a good link to a tutorial if you want to draft your own (it's the one I used to draft my base pattern). So now that we have that all clear... Oh, by the by, the way this is going to work is: The steps are in the picture, and then I'll offer a longer explanation (if necessary) of each step below. Oh, and one last thing: We are using the skirt pattern BACK ONLY. The front skirt pattern will not need to be altered AT ALL!

Part 1: The Skirt

1. So, how you figure out your elastic measurement is this: Put on a skirt that sits at about the same place as where you want your finished skirt waistband to sit. Put a pin about an inch or so back from the side seams on each side. I put mine about 1-3/8" away from the side seam. Make sure the pins are the same distance from each side, and then measure between them. This is your "finished" elastic measurement (mine was 10"). I actually ended up cutting my elastic an inch smaller (plus seam allowance) because it stretched out a bit as I sewed it. You can cut it to the actual length if you want. If you do cut it an inch shorter, this will be your "cut" elastic measurement (mine was 9").

1.5 Testing your elastic: But wait! Before you cut your elastic, put a pin where you are going to cut the elastic, and then see if you can stretch the elastic from side seam to side seam around your hips. If  you can't, you're going to have to cut your elastic a little bit longer, and move the placement line (we'll get to that later) over the amount that you cut extra.

2. So, my elastic measurement was 9". I divided it by two, and got 4.5". I then drew a line that distance from the edge of the paper. Easy as pie!

3. So, just to explain to you exactly what I did. I took my 1/2 circle skirt pattern, and lined up the very edge of the pattern along the line that I drew in step 2. That way I didn't need to draw in a  new seam allowance. Now, if you aren't going to have a seam at the center back, you will line up the SEAM ALLOWANCE LINE of your pattern with the line you drew in step 2, instead of the PATTERN EDGE. Kapeesh?

4. I already had my hem allowance included in my pattern, so I just extended the hem line from that to the edge of the paper.

6. So, you remember that measurement that we got in step 1? The one that we tested in step 1.5? This is where that gets used again. So, my "finished" elastic measurement was 10". For the pattern drafting, I used a measurement an inch smaller than this: 9". Here, we are going to use our "finished" elastic measurement instead. The formula looks like this: "finished" elastic measurement / 2 = notch placement (10"/2 = 5") Measure this distance (5" in my case) along the seam line, starting at the line drawn in step 2, and make a notch at the (however many inches) mark. I hoped I made this more clear than in the illustration! If not, ignore this commentary and just look at the picture. :D

Part 2: The Waistband

This part is easy peasy, now that you've (hopefully) successfully altered your skirt pattern! Just a note, make sure your waistband pattern is drawn out to it's full length, and isn't meant to be cut on a fold vertically, if you get my drift. That won't work with these instructions.

2. In this step, we are once again using our "cut" elastic measurement, not our "finished" elastic measurement. DON'T FORGET THE SEAM ALLOWANCES! If you lose those, let's just say you're doomed... to cut a new waistband that is. :{

3. Original waistband measurement: 25.5"+ Seam Allowances. Divided by two=12.75". Mark a line this distance (it will be different for you, unless you have the same waist measurement as me. :P) away from the left hand side of your pattern. Now you have a marking for your side seam!

4. In this step we are referring back to our skirt pattern, and the notch we made in STEP 6 of PART 1. Make sure to measure from your SIDE SEAM, and not your CENTER BACK SEAM.

Did you get through it? Did it make sense? Well done for you (and me!) if you did! I hope to be able to have a tutorial with the construction up sometime in the next month (maybe), but until then, here's a few pointers (and mistakes to avoid) about constructing the skirt:

Pointers

• Assemble as you would any 1/2 circle skirt, only do not leave an opening for the zipper.
• Sew down your waistband like normal, leaving openings at the notches wide enough to put your elastic through.
• Thread the elastic through the casing, but before you stretch it to the other side, sew down one end, then proceed to thread it through and sew down the other side.
• Sew the openings for the elastic closed.

Mistakes to avoid

• I constructed my skirt slightly differently, as far as putting in the elastic, which is why my elastic stretched out, and I had to cut it shorter. You may not have to do that. Experiment! If your elastic feels like it will be too tight cut any smaller, cut it the exact measurement you need. This tutorial is meant to be a jumping-off point, not the ultimate rule and guide!
• If you can think of a better way to do something than what I have explained, use that method! AND please share it with us. Like I said, this is my first tutorial, so it is probably fraught with mistakes. So if you find one, please point it out kindly, the way you would want a mistake to be pointed out to you, and I'll look into it.

Did this tutorial make sense to you?

Would you like me to do a construction tutorial for the skirt?

If you make a skirt using this tutorial, be sure to share it with me! I'd love to see it!

Blessings,

Brigid

the Middle Sister and Singer

P.S. This post was inspired by and based off of what I learned from this tutorial. I adapted it to work for a half circle skirt pattern, and you should feel free to adapt it to whatever type of skirt you want! Just please do not use any of my tutorial images in any blog post. Feel free to share away on Facebook, Pinterest, etc. though!