Lined Skirt with Fitted Waistband Tutorial

 This project has been so long in the making that I was super relieved it still fitted me! Actually it is a little bit big. Maybe cutting down on sugar is doing me some good. 

Anyway, I've created this tutorial of the making process. I hope you find it useful for your next skirt making project.


I started by adapting a vintage Butterick pattern to take out the waist darts and create a wide fitted waist band.

I did this by tracing bands from the pattern, cutting the darts out, then adding a seam to the edges of the band and skirt. 

Lay the pattern out onto the fabric, making sure to match the straight grain lines on the pattern with the straight edge of the fabric's fold and selvage. 

 Place the front skirt panel and front band facing on the fold of the fabric. 

For the skirt bands place the pattern pieces on the bias of the fabric so the fabric pattern runs on the diagonal.

This is slightly trickier with the front folded panel. You may need to cut it half at a time to keep the pattern correct.

 Pin the kick pleat back and use the front and back pattern pieces to cut out the skirt lining.











Iron interfacing onto the fitted bands. Pin the bands onto the front and back panels by pining at each end then easing in the centre and matching the edges of the fabric. Sew them together. Overlock the raw edges and press the seam upwards.

 Overlock the centre back seam.

Pin the outside of the zip onto the right side of the skirt panel. Use a standard machine foot to sew the zip in, one side at a time. 

 Take care to align the two band seams.

Line up the remainder of the centre back seam and pull the tail of the zip out of the way. Starting from the top of the kick pleat, sew the centre back seam. Sew as close to the zip stitching as possible without catching the zip.

 Finished zip and seam.

Pin the skirt front and back together.

 Sew the side seam. Overlock the raw edges separately and press the seams open. 

 To complete the kick pleat, overlock the raw edge, then pin the overlocking to the inside and sew down. This stops the overlocking from being visible.  

 Press the kick pleat into place and secure with a top stitch.

Finish the outside of the kick pleat hem by folding the hem in against itself and sewing along the finished hem line.

 The finished outside edge of the kick pleat hem. The inside hem is simply pressed and sewed into place.

 To make the lining, match the facing panels with the lining.

Pin them together in the same way as the skirt panel and band.

 Sew together.

Overlock the raw edges and press the seam upward as shown,

 Match the side seams, pin and sew.

Pin the lining centre back together and sew the space between where the zip stops and where the kick pleat starts.

 Press the centre back seam open.

 With the lining and facings constructed, place the right side of the skirt against the right side of the lining and match the centre back and side seams. Pin in place. 
Fold the seam from the zip out and pin it to the edge of the lining panel as shown.

 Pinned as shown:

 Sew the lining and skirt panels together as pinned at the waist. Sew over the top of the zip and right to the edge of the fabric.

 Clip the edge of the waist seam.

 Understitch the waist seam by sewing the seam onto the waist facing as shown.

 Both sides of the completed understitched waist seam.

 Finish the zip and lining by folding the facing and seam against the zip edge. 

Pin and stitch to trap the zip seams into the lining. Sew down as far as the end of the zip.

The finished zip and lining attachment.


Finish by sewing the remainder of the lining together down to the kick pleat.

Finish the lining kick pleat by folding in the overlocked edges and top stitching them into place so they are not visible when the wearer walks.

Measure and pin up the hem of the skirt and lining, taking care to make the lining a cm shorter than the skirt.

Machine stitch the lining into place.

Now hand stitch the skirt hem into place.











Close up of the finished skirt. Secretly quite pleased it's a little large....














I'm wearing my new skirt with  a jacket I purchased in a mall in Singapore and one of my sister's label bow silk tops.

My New Winter Knit Skirt Tutorial



There is nothing better than a comfy, cosy knit skirt to slide into on a cold winter's day. Something with a bit of stretch to make the day at work easier. I found this thick knit fabric on the remnant table at Fabric Vision last year. Like all good fabric bargains, it resided in my stash for a good 12 months before I finally got to making something of it. 

Time always being short, I found a very simple retro pattern to use; then snazzed it up with some grosgrain ribbon down the side seams.

It was a really good Sunday afternoon project, suitable for beginning sewers, and can be done in no time at all.
I laid the pattern out on the folded fabric making sure the grain of the knit fabric is straight by lining up the selvage edges. 

The stretch of the fabric should be greatest around the body of the skirt so check which way the fabric stretches the most. The front of the skirt is placed 'on the fold' - otherwise you will be stuck with a seam down the centre front. I folded up some of the length of the skirt as it was longer than I wanted.


First sew the invisible zip into the centre back seam of the skirt. Place the right side of the open invisible zip onto the right side of the fabric and pin one side on, so the teeth of the zip are pushed flat. Sew along the crease in the zip using either a special invisible zip foot or an ordinary foot - both will help to help to hold the teeth out of the way. You can never sew right to the bottom of an invisible zip, so just stop when you get close to the end. Now sew the other side on and do up the zip. Only once both sides have been attached can the centre back skirt seam be sewn up.

Now sew the darts into the back of the skirt and the pleats into the front.

Sew the side seams together and over lock the raw edges. Press the seam and pin the grosgrain ribbon over the seams. Top stitch on as neatly as you can.

Using a dry iron - ie no stream, press interfacing onto the waist band. Don't move the iron around, just press and lift so the interfacing doesn't wrinkle and crease.









Pin the waist band onto the skirt making sure that the skirt waist is not stretched onto the band. Leave an overlap of fabric on the left side to accommodate the button hole. Also ensure the band matches at the zip or else one side will be longer than the other. Fold the width of the band over and sew around as shown in the picture.
Sew both end then turn into the right side. Press the band making sure the inside edge overlaps the outside seam. From the outside of the skirt sew the band down so the inside seam is caught.

Measure, press and pin the hem. I sewed a small piece of grosgrain ribbon across the kick pleat at the back of the skirt.
Bag out the kick pleat seam by folding it back against itself and sewing across on the crease of the hem.

Sew the hem using a small herringbone stitch. A busy pattern like this really doesn't need a line of visible stitching as well.

Out for a casual family coffee at The Colombo.

Winter Wardrobe Update - Waist band tutorial

Winter has closed in and my wardrobe selection is looking a little tired and in need of a freshen-up. We all have our favourite classic wardrobe pieces to get out again, but their comes a time to move the peripheral items on. I don't want to become one of those teachers that get stuck in the style habits of the decade that was their hay day; especially with a major zero related birthday on my horizon this year.

Every season I vow to spend more time making my own clothes; plying the trade that runs through our family tree. With just a day or two of our recent holidays left, I finally broke out the stash and sewed myself up a couple of skirts. Long days of working and generally mangy weather has meant it's taken a couple of weeks for me to photograph the finished products.

I used a very simple Butterick pattern and tartan wool fabric remnant I picked up at a stash-rehash event for the paltry sum of $12. I had envisaged cutting the front and back panels in single pieces, but the fabric was only 90cm wide, so I had to have a seam in the
centre front and centre back. Which of course meant matching the stripes in the tartan.


I fitted a 25cm invisible zip in the centre back seam and joined the side seams and centre front matching the pattern; then I over-locked all the vertical seams and one side of the waist band. Ensure the skirt fits before sewing on the waist band!

To fit the tailored waistband:
1) Pin the raw (not over-locked) edge of the waist band to the waist of the skirt. Put the pins in as shown and you will be able to sew over the top of them to ensure a neat finish.
Make sure the sewing meets at the same point on the zip, or the ends of the waistband wont meet up when the zip is closed.




Leave enough overlap at each end of the band to accommodate the seam allowance and enough band to overlap for the button - about 2cm plus 1.5cm for seam.
Remember that the overlap on a women's garment is right over left.

2) Iron the seam, then fold the band over against itself, matching the end and the edges. Sew across the end of the band as shown in the photo.

3) Sew the tab end of the band by folding over the band and matching the edges in the same way as before. Pin and sew across the end, turning 1.5cm from the edge of the band, and sewing in towards the zip. Stop sewing once you get to the band seam as shown. This forms the tab that the button hole will be sewn into.

4) Turn band in the right way making sure the corners a well turned out. Use a pin to pick out the point if required. Iron the band, turning the seam into the band and leaving the overlocked edge outside and overlapping the seam. (I didn't need to over-lock the outside edge because I cut the waistband from the selvage edge of the fabric - that's the bit that wont fray)

5) Measure and pin the waist band into place. In this case the waist band is 3cm wide. From the outside of the garment stitch along the seam of the band (where the pins are in the photo) to secure the inside edge of the band to the garment. This is called a stitch-in-the-ditch. Alternatively, the seam could be top stitched if you prefer more obvious stitching effect.

6) All sewn up. The bands should match exactly once the zip is closed. Now find a matching button from your stash and sew the button hole into one overlapping side of the band. Sew on your button.

Because this skirt is cut from the bias of the fabric - across the diagonal of the fabric - it is prone to dropping: where the fabric stretches and drops making the hem uneven. Because of this I hung it up for a couple of days before sewing the hem. I could have hand sewed it; however the quite busy pattern meant I could machine sew it 2cm from the edge of the fabric without compromising the look of the garment. Time is precious after all!

Thanks to my sister Charmaine for taking the photos

 Autumn leaves, stocking, woollen layers, hearty meals and sensible shoes.

The winter season is definitely here.