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Girls· Riley Blake· Sew for Girls· Tutorials

A Melon Blocked Skirt

Ok, today I’ve got another skirt…
Right now solids are my favorite fabrics—more than prints…more than stripes…more than polka dots (and that is saying something because I really love stripes and polka dots) and this skirt I can make out of any combination of solids I choose.
It’s a new favorite of mine and it’s really easy to make (one of those nap time projects).
Here’s how to make one:
First measure your little one’s waist.
Now take the waist measurement and double it.  (Gracie’s waist is 18 inches…so I double that number making it 36 inches).  Easy.
Now take that number and divide it by 3.  (36 divided by 3 is 12)
This number will be how wide the vertical stripe of color in your skirt will be.
Then you take that number and minus it from your doubled waist measurement. (36 minus 12 is 24)
This number is how wide the main color of your skirt will be.
You now know how wide to make each piece.  As for how long to make each piece just measure your little one from the waist to the knee (or however long you’d like the skirt to be) and add 2 inches (for the casing and hem).
Finally for the horizontal stripe, cut a strip 2 inches wide and at least as long as your waist measurement doubled is (36 inches) plus an extra inch or two just to be safe.
Ok…now that you have all of that…
(All that measuring sounds confusing but it is really easy, I promise.)
Once you have those three pieces cut:
(This photo only shows the two pieces sewn together but after I took this picture I folded the green around ontop of the coral, right sides together, and sewed it up so then I had the basic skirt tube.)
Next:
(Ok, I did it again…I KNOW you shouldn’t hem in the middle of making a skirt but when I make most of my little girls skirts this is when I do it…I know it wrong but so is watching “Dog the Bounty Hunter”, covering everything in blue cheese, and listening to Neil Diamond and I do those things all the time as well.  And none of it is going to change anytime soon.)
Now you are ready to:
(All you do is lay your fabric strip out and fold each side into the middle and iron.  It’s easy…but if you are like me you’ll burn your fingers and say bad words anyways.)
Next:
(I stitched mine about 2 and a half inches up from the bottom hem of the skirt.)
Now:
Next:
 Then sew your elastic together and stitch the hole to your casing closed.
Now you are ready for the last step which is my favorite part of the hole skirt…finally you can:
(I took all the photos to make the tutorial for how to make these bows but then felt a little silly knowing there are approximately 8 million of these bow tutorials out there.  However, if you haven’t run across one of them I can post the tutorial later if you would like.  Just let me know.)

So that’s that.  Another take on an elastic waisted skirt….and I really like this one…almost as much as I like blue cheese.  Ummmmm blue cheese…..

liZ
PS—About the name, the boys named it…they said the skirt reminds them of cantaloupe….

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Comments

  1. 2littlehooligans says

    LOVE those colors together! im loving solids right now too! i just bought some yellow and green fabric for the little guy. he is overly obsessed with john deere tractors and their colors right now. he saw some john deere fabric the other day and begged me to make him something with it, but i just cant go there. something about that type of fabrics make me cringe. so i told him i would make him something with john deere yellow and green instead. phew, he agreed. am i bad mom for that?

  5. Mary says

    Hi Elizabeth and Liz…I’m new to your blog and new to blogging…but OLD..Im so old they did not even have computers when I …oh never mind. I am very old though and Elizabeth,I am Mark’s sister Mary Lou. You know me from all of those games of Mafia in Peterson livingroom. Ha. I have been learning to blog and your blog is amazing. Renae has a blog now to, she will probably be commenting soon. Thanks for the cute blog and great ideas shared. Mary Lou

  9. Kat @ sewchibi.blogspot.com says

    I love me some color blocking! The colors and the little bow are so happy. I am a sucker for happy colors.

    Ohhh!! And as far as the blue cheese goes {since wine, cheese, & beer pairing are my “day job” err… “night job”}, we are biiiig fans at home too!! If you ever are looking for something buttery and salty and blue-riffically delightful try Cashel Blue from County Cork, Ireland, pair it up with something sweet like a tawny port {or and port}, or if you are more of a beer girl, pair it up with a Belgium Dubbel style {it’s a Trappiste style ale}, or a Russian Imperial Stout {think of it as an espresso in beer form}. Try those out and hit me up with what you think 😉

  10. LittleStar07 says

    Hi, I like this skirt very much, but i’m newly learning sew, I not so understand how to cut the shape on the cloth, mind to email me a drawing of how to cut out the cloth of this skirt? I wish to make 1 for my friend’s daughter….

    Thanks a lot…

    missjoeycraft at gmail dot com

  13. Violeta says

    Hello! I made this skirt and it’s really beautiful, but I have one question: how did you attach the bow to the skirt? I tried to hand stich it, but it didn’t work great… maybe I should use some kind of glue? Or maybe is there a way to machine sew it so it would still look pro?
    I love your blog, I am quite new to sewing and it’s very helpful. 🙂 Thank you!

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