Wrap Skirt for Dance Class - Tutorial

My friend's daughter has been taking a dance class and asked me if I would try to make her some skirts. Heck yeah...new project!

She let me borrow an old skirt to make a pattern. It was so easy! The skirt was made of only 3 pieces - 2 halves of the skirt and one piece of bias tape for the waistband/ties. I flattened the skirt and traced half of it on to a piece of cardstock. I find that using cardstock works well because you can either trace it on to the fabric or you can roll your rotary cutter around it easily.

Cut 2 pieces using the pattern. Make sure that you turn over the pattern for the second piece. If you don't, when you assemble, one of them will be on the wrong side.

Next, pin the 2 straight edges with the right sides together and sew across. Then I like to trim the edge and do a zigzag stitch to kind of hide the raw edge and iron the seam to one side. (If you have a serger, that works even better) Ironing it will just help the skirt to look flatter in the back.

When you un-pin it, you will have this:

Looks kind of like a Boppy, doesn't it?

Now if you are lucky enough to have a serger, serge around the entire piece. If not, you can zigzag around the whole piece like I did. Then hem the bottom of the piece, which is actually upside down in my photo. Made has a great explanation of the zigzag/hem process. (She has an awesome tutorial on making Circle Skirts with no seams too)

Next, pin the bias tape to the top of the skirt, lining up the middle of the tape with the middle of the skirt. 

Turn under one end of the tape and sew along the open edge, creating the tie. When you get to the skirt, make sure that the edge is still tucked under the bias tape and sew across. Then do the same with the other side of the tape and turn under the end.

I am trying this method with some different fabrics and here's what I've made so far:

Silky Satin Type of fabric. It will wrinkle, so it's not very practical. It looks pretty though. I actually zigzagged the edges and then singed the edges with a lighter to melt the fabric. This will prevent it from fraying. Be careful though. You have to move the lighter very quickly or it will melt too much and look funny.

I love this sheer peacock fabric! I'm not sure how the zigzagged edge will hold up. It looks great though. I need a serger!