make a drop-waist skirt!

a free pattern and a tutorial! (plus an homage to maggie rogers <3)

Long skirts are not something I break out often. They rank last in my preferred bottoms line-up. But I was seeing Maggie Rogers at Red Rocks, and Boulder weather is anything but predictable — I needed something that could conceal a pair of long underwear if it snowed or secretly fly commando in if the sun was beating down. But above all, a long, red skirt at a Maggie show would be fucking adorable.

Here is a bad picture I took immediately after I finished sewing it. Sowwy.

I’d been seeing drop-waist skirts all over my pinterest, and while I find anything longer than a mini a bit cottage-core for my liking, I was drawn to the illusory snatch they provided. I self-drafted a skirt for myself with no real guidance, and I feel like it turned out ~okay.~ But before drafting a multi-size pattern for y’all & writing the tut, I went back to the drawing board to iron out the kinks (and remove the back darts and dips.) So if you try it — give me feedback (and please be patient with me and my non-math brain!)

Download and print (in color) the waistband pattern, assembling the pieces in order, making sure the transparent orange boxes line up at the middle margins. Based on your waist measurement, pick the best size & cut. (X-Small: 24”, Small: 27”, Medium: 30”, Large: 35”, X-Large: 40”)

For the bulk of the skirt, or the gathered part, you’ll be working with simple rectangular yards of fabric that you can sew together to make panels. Use the list below to see how much yardage you’ll need.

• X-Small - Small: 2 yards

• Medium-X-Large: 3 yards

PLUS 3/4 Yard for the waistband regardless of size.

Dropwaistskirtpatterngw62

97.9KB ∙ PDF file

Download

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The Tutty

1. Once your pattern is assembled and cut to size, cut two of the waistband on fold. If your fabric is particularly thin, cut one of fusible interfacing and apply it to one of the ‘wrong sides’ of your pieces.

2. With right sides together, sew the tops together using a 1/2 inch seam allowance (same for all following seams.) It should look like the following drawing (red line is what you sew. Fold right-sides out and press.

3. Assemble your panels to gather. They should be a yard ‘tall’. If you’re making a small or x small, you’ll sew two pieces together. If you’re making a medium, large, or x large, you’ll sew three pieces together. Press your seams.

4. Gather the panel longways, so it measures a yard tall and however long the bottom waist seam is. To find this measurement, take a flexible measuring tape and measure from the side seam to the bottom of the “v” then multiply it by 2.

5. Find the middle of the V and the Gathered panel and line them up, right sides together, with the “v” pointing !!!!UP!!! Pin and stitch this seam. (it should look like the following drawing, the red seam is the one you’re sewing.

   

6. Trim and notch the curved points of the seam, then flip it over and press.

7. Insert a zipper any method you prefer. I like this method because it’s easy, you don’t need a zipper foot, it works with any type of zipper and I never really care if you can see where the zipper is. If you care, you can buy and insert an invisible zipper.

8. Try on your skirt and mark where you want your hem.

9. Turn your skirt inside out, and fold fabric up an inch for your desired hem. sew.

VOILAAAAAAA.

I hope it looks great and you can wear it to a concert soon (:

P.S. This is getting posted the day after her concert, and it was everything I’d hoped for. Plus a little more because she sang Retrograde (my fave song) one and a quarter times. Defffffff get some Maggie Rogers tickets if you’re on the fence.