I bought this fabric for a different project but realized that it was too drapey for the structured dress I was planning, so I decided on a whim to whip it into something else. I was intrigued by a couple of images of Elisalex (owner of By Hand London)’s instagram where she is wearing a very soft, flowy wrap circle skirt and figured I could eek out enough fabric from my yardage to make this quick and simple replica (I was wrong- I had to go to The Fabric Store and get more, but it was worth it).
I’ve made plenty of circle skirts in my past based off of my measurements but never a wrap skirt, so I tried to use the nifty calculator and sparse directions on By Hand London’s blog post to sew it up. Elisalex has a tutorial for how to make the wrap circle skirt from start to finish in a UK sewing magazine but unfortunately they didn’t have the article archived online and I wasn’t about to try and hunt down/pay for a physical copy when I knew I could probably stumble through making it myself. So that’s what I did, because I’m what? TRYCURIOUS, thasss right! And it came out fine! The most important bit of information I needed to make this skirt was that 6 panels are required for a circle wrap garment, and once I cut those pattern pieces out based on the measurement of my waist circumference, all I needed was to sew those pieces together and add a waistband with long ties.
I think I spent more time trying to hunt down Elisalex’s magazine tutorial than actually sewing this thing, and ultimately all I needed were the brief instructions she shared in her blog post! What a fantastic skirt! My fabric is a rayon that frays like mad at the raw edges so I french seamed all the panels together, folded the side edges in on either end of the skirt and hemmed them. Next I measured the full length of the waist to calculate my waist band and I cut out a rectangle at the height I wanted my band to be, plus seam allowances for all sides. After going back and forth on the matter, I decided to interface the entire waistband and I am glad I did- it gives the skirt some nice structure right around my belly but since the waistband is fairly narrow it doesn’t feel like too much bulk.
I sewed up some long tubes of fabric for the ties, making sure the finished tube was the same width as my waistband (I think I made it 1.5″?), pulled them right side out, then sewed them to each edge of my waistband. I added a buttonhole from which to pull the waist tie through above the side seam opposite where the skirt opens, and then, after letting the garment hang overnight, I spent what felt 23 days sewing the hem (circle skirts, amirite??).
End result? SO cute! This fabric is borderline polka dots/leopard spots, depending on what category you love the most, which is a nice space for me to be in since I am not crazy about animal prints (not on me- I oooh and ahhh every time I see someone else rocking animal print, though). The dots are multi-sized and randomly scattered about so it gives the print a little more depth and visual interest than a regular dotted fabric, I think. After seeing these pictures and wearing it around for a bit, I am tempted to shorten the skirt just a couple inches to have it hit right at my knee instead of below it, because I feel like it might just be swallowing me up with that bold print and all the yards of fabric swirling around? But maybe it’s just how I styled it here, and with different shoes or a different top it will look more balanced on me. Honestly I don’t know if I have it in me to spend 23 more days re-hemming this skirt so I might have to sit on it for a while before I make a move, LOL.
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