DIY: Maternity Skirts

I'm on a roll with these maternity skirts! Perhaps it's because I live in Houston and it's hot as anything here? (Although, I do have to say that I think I am one of the few people who prefers humid heat to dry heat. I couldn't stand the heat in Las Vegas!)

Also, my belly is expanding. I can't really tell if I'm on track or if I might be growing twins (it runs in our family). The books seem to indicate that I shouldn't really be showing yet, although searching google images for pictures of other 15-week pregnant people seems to show that I'm even smaller than average. Who knows! All I know is that I am most comfortable in skirts that have no zippers or elastic. I love naturally stretchy fabrics!

For the blue skirt, I simply started with a botched dress I tried to make a while ago. I made the bodice of the dress perfectly well, but I totally couldn't finish the arms and neckline. So, I simply chopped the top off and then used the rest of the dress for the skirt bottom. I used a piece of knit fabric for the waistband. I stretched it around my body to see how long of a piece I should cut. Then I cut a long strip and sewed it together at the ends to make a circle. Then I sewed the right-side of the knit circle to the right-side of the skirt. I pinned it in four places around the waist before sewing, and then I simply pulled on the knit to stretch it, while the sewing machine attached the knit waistband to the cotton skirt. As I mentioned before, I don't bother to finish the edges of knit fabrics because they roll up on their own.

For the skirt with the Amy Butler fabric, I took the fabric scrap I had (right-side to right-side), folded it in half horizontally (to make the front and back) and then in half again vertically (to double up the skirt). I did my best to cut out half the shape of a skirt. When I unfolded it vertically, I then had perfectly a perfectly symmetrical piece. The right side of the front matched the left side because I had folded it in half on a vertical line, and the back piece matched the front piece because I had folded it along the horizontal line.

Then I took my front piece and my back piece (which were still facing each other right-side to right-side), and I sewed up the sides. Then I folded the bottom hem up twice before sewing it (to tuck in the frayed edges and make it look cleaner). Then I followed the same procedure to create the waistband using a stretchy, knit fabric.

Boy, I really am a terrible tutorial writer. If you want a better tutorial, try this one from See Mommy Sew. I think my main reason for writing about my DIY sewing projects is to attempt to inspire those of you who are aspiring crafters. Have courage! Take risks! It's the only way to learn. And skirts are a great place to start.

I really should learn how to read patterns. I could expand my sewing repertoire considerably if I knew how to follow all the intricate information included in a sewing pattern. I have an ongoing list of things I would like for Christmas or my birthday. I think I'll add a pattern reading class from Sew Crafty to my list!

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