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patterns sewing tutorials women

the everyday maxi skirt | easy sewing tutorial

Guess what? I made another skirt. I know, you can hardly believe it. Anyway, as you can see it’s a maxi skirt. It was insanely easy to sew, AND it’s made out of a beautiful, flowy, lightweight fabric which is just perfect for summer. It’s cut wider at the bottom than most maxi skirts, which I like because it makes it easy to walk in and it doesn’t cling where it shouldn’t. ‘Cuz I just don’t need cling at this point in my life.

Easy sewing tutorial for a women's maxi skirt made from woven (not knit) fabric. How to sew a maxi skirt.

You might be thinking: “Hey, you’ve made a knee length version of this skirt already and it’s called the Everyday Skirt.” If you are, you’re completely correct. And you maybe need to stop reading my blog and get out more 😉

Easy sewing tutorial for a women's maxi skirt made from woven (not knit) fabric. How to sew a maxi skirt.

If you don’t recognize this as an Everyday Skirt, I’ll recap the beauties of said skirt: Number one, it’s crazy comfy, thanks to an elastic waist, but it features a curved waistline, which means you get fullness at the bottom of the skirt without too many gathers in that elastic waist, so it doesn’t bunch or pouf. And number two, it’s crazy easy, thanks to the fact that there are only two pieces to put together and we attach the elastic in an ingenious method that doesn’t require threading it through a waistband. Yep, it’s great.

Easy sewing tutorial for a women's maxi skirt made from woven (not knit) fabric. How to sew a maxi skirt.

For an everyday maxi skirt, you’ll need about 2.5 yards of wide fabric (mine was 52 inches wide). You definitely want to use a lightweight, drapey fabric. I used rayon challis from Raspberry Creek Fabrics (a fabulous etsy fabric shop – check it out!) and it worked beautifully. Stiffer fabrics like quilting cotton just won’t look good. Wash and dry it however you plan to treat the finished garment.

Fold the fabric in quarters, and lay it out as shown below, with the corner of both folds in the upper left. Take two measurements: the widest part of your hips (mine is 42), and the finished length of the skirt (mine is 36). Divide the hips measurement by 4 and add one inch to get your measurement A (11.5), and add an inch to the length measurement to get your measurement B (37).

how to sew a pretty, full maxi skirt for women

Most gathered skirts have you cut a rectangle, but we want more of an A-line shape that has a slightly curved waistline and hemline. This gives you less gathers at the waist but still gives a fullness at the hemline. Starting a few inches down from the main corner (photo above), pin a slightly curved waistline that measures the length of your measurement A (mine was 11.5 inches). From the end of this curve, measure down and out to the edge of the fabric, using measurement B (mine was 37 inches). Continue to measure B inches down from the waistline, making a gently curved hem that matches the gently curved waistline. Cut along the pins and you’ll have two pieces that look like this:

how-to-sew-a-maxi-skirt-easy-full-sewing-tutorial-instructions-women-1

Ok, the measuring and cutting is by far the hardest part. The sewing is easy! Grab some elastic (1 to 1.5 inches wide) and cut it an inch shorter than your waist measurement. Sew the ends together and zigzag the seam allowance flat. Place the two skirt pieces RST and sew down the sides. (You’ll notice the photos here switch to the original (knee length) skirt I made using this tutorial. That’s because the sewing portion is exactly the same for either a knee length or maxi length skirt.)

this easy women's DIY skirt only takes 1 yard of fabric and an hour to make! great sewing tutorial.

Turn the skirt right side out. Divide both the elastic and the skirt into quarters or eighths and mark with pins. Place the elastic over the right side of the skirt and match up the pins – the skirt will be bigger than the elastic, causing the skirt fabric to bunch up a bit. You’ll need to stretch the elastic until the fabric lays flat in order to sew them together.

this easy women's DIY skirt only takes 1 yard of fabric and an hour to make! great sewing tutorial.

Once the elastic is sewn to the skirt, flip it to the inside of the skirt and pin the bottom edge of the elastic to the skirt in about 8 places. Sew the bottom edge of the elastic to the skirt to create a “waistband”. You’ll need to stretch the elastic again to keep the material flat as you sew. A straight stitch is fine here.

everyday-skirt-easy-to-sew-womens-gathered-a-line-skirt-pattern-how-to-make-11

This is what the finished waistband looks like up close:

this easy women's DIY skirt only takes 1 yard of fabric and an hour to make! great sewing tutorial.

At this point, try on your skirt and ensure that the bottom edges hang evenly an inch or so above the ground. It helps to have someone sit on the ground next to you with a ruler and mark an inch above the ground with pins all the way around. This just ensures that if your cutting was off a little you get things even before you hem.

To hem, turn up the bottom edge 1/4 of an inch twice, and sew with a straight stitch. Done!

Easy sewing tutorial for a women's maxi skirt made from woven (not knit) fabric. How to sew a maxi skirt.

Looking for more skirt sewing tutorials? Try these posts:

How to sew a half circle skirt

The half circle skirt in a maxi length

The perfect flattering gathered skirt

The easy everyday skirt tutorial

The everyday skirt in maxi length

Sweatpants to cozy skirt refashion

Pleated midi skirt tutorial

Girls reversible pompom skirt

Easy to sew girls’ skirt with attached shorts

You may also like:

  • easy elastic waist gathered skirt for women {sewing tutorial}easy elastic waist gathered skirt for women {sewing tutorial}
  • DIY circle skirt from a thrifted sheetDIY circle skirt from a thrifted sheet
  • the classic tee cap sleeve maxi dressthe classic tee cap sleeve maxi dress
  • the bow tie easy tee {free women’s sewing pattern}the bow tie easy tee {free women’s sewing pattern}

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8 Comments

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Comments

  1. Dara harper says

    July 8, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    Very Cute, Autumn! BTW, Love your name!

    Reply
  2. Pegg Macko says

    July 12, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    Oh I love how you sewed the elastic! I’ve been sewing many years and I’ve not seen it done this way. Ingenious! No more threading elastic for this girl!!! Great skirt too!!!

    Reply
  3. Teresa Thompson says

    July 31, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    You are amazing! Thanks you so very much for blogging your fab tutorials for the world to learn and create!
    Appreciate the time you put into all you do.

    Reply
  4. Cathy mantello says

    August 5, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    I AM PLANNING TO MAKE A FEW SKIRTS FOR MY NIECE WHO IS MUCH BIGGER THAN I AM SO IT’S A DIFFERENT KIND OF SEWING.. I WAS JUST THINKING THAT I’D CUT A RECTANGLE AS IF I WERE MAKING A CURTAIN. BUT I CAN SEE THAT THIS IS NOT THE BEST WAY. I, TOO, WAS GOING TO MAKE A CHANNEL AT THE WAIST AND PULL THE ELASTIC THROUGH IT. BUT I’M GOING TO TRY YOUR WAY.

    ONE QUESTION: IS THE WAISTBAND FINISHED ON THE INSIDE? I COULDN’T TELL IF YOU TURNED UNDER THE TOP OF SKIRT BEFORE SEWING ON THE ELASTIC.

    THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIPS AND FOR YOUR TIME MAKING THE TUTORIAL. BTW I’M 72 AND HAVE BEEN SEWING SINCE I WAS 14. SO I GUESS I THOUGHT THERE’S NOTHING NEW TO BE LEARNED. I WAS WRONG!

    Reply
    • Marcella Martin says

      October 7, 2017 at 11:59 am

      I have been sewing my elastic waist bands this way for years.If I have a wide waist band I sew both top and bottom so it is not so apt. to roll or twist

      Reply
  5. Cassie says

    October 18, 2017 at 3:03 pm

    Does this method work with directional fabric?

    Reply

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  2. The everyday maxi skirt tutorial - Sewing 4 Free says:
    July 19, 2016 at 7:59 am

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I'm Autumn, a mom of five who loves ice cream, Masterpiece Theatre, and clothes that hide the fact that I eat so much ice cream. When I was 18 I got a job at a craft store and told everyone (regularly) how much I hated crafts. Well, things change! Read More…

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