You can sew a simple skirt with less than a yard of fabric! I sewed this black printed skirt with less than a yard of fabric over 20 years ago and it still looks amazing!
It’s high quality rayon fabric so it’s lasted a long time. I usually machine wash and tumble dry. It rolls up tiny for travel and has accompanied me on business trips, to conferences and on vacation.
Fabric requirements: 3/4″ – 1 yard of fabric of your choice. If your hips measure less than 42″ you can use 45″ wide fabric, otherwise choose 54″ wide fabric. A length of 3/4″ elastic your waist measurement plus 1″ . Mine is 54″ wide fabric.
Take up to 1 yard of fabric of your choice (45″ width is ideal if your hip measurement is less than 42″ wide, otherwise choose 54″ wide.) The length you have of the fabric (e.g. you have 1 yard or 2/3 of a yard) is the length of the skirt it will make – a yard of fabric makes a skirt that (minus 1.5″ for a waistband casing and 1″ for a hem) is 33.5″ long, which is a maxi skirt. So 2/3 of a yard of fabric is 20″ long. This skirt is 22″ finished length on me and I likely used 3/4 of a yard of this fabric. I probably had a yard, as I think there were some scraps at one time.
Fold the fabric selvedge to selvedge with RIGHT sides together. Stitch a sideseam down along the selvedge, making sure you’re capturing any selvedge in the seam allowance (some are printed with manufacturer names and design names). This is your new sideseam. If you want, you can leave a slit on the side like I did, mine is about 6″ long. If you are making a long skirt, you will definitely need a slit to walk in – make yours the length that’s comfortable for you.
To finish the slit: fold back both seam allowances and press. Stitch up one side of the slit, across the seam, and back down to the other side. Because this is the selvedge, it will not ravel!
Making the waistband casing: Fold the fabric 1.5″ from the top wrong side to wrong side so the right side shows on the casing. Press. Unfold and press the raw edge under .5″ and then fold down and press again. Stitch along this edge, leaving a 1″ opening for elastic.
Using your elastic, use a safety pin or elastic puller to pull the 3/4″ wide non roll elastic through your casing. Pin with a safety pin and try the skirt on, adjusting the gathers. Make sure the elastic is comfortable but not too loose. Adjust, pin as needed. Then, take off the skirt, and stitch the elastic to secure it to the length you want, tucking the ends inside the skirt waistband. Stitch across the 1″ opening you left for the elastic insertion.
Fold under the bottom hem 1/2″ and then 1/2″ again and stitch close to the folded top edge of the hem to finish your skirt. Voila! Done!
I used to make skirts like this (mini skirts) in college, an hour before we’d go to the bar. So at 9pm, I’d start sewing, make a mini skirt and go to the bar at 10:15pm!
Styling your skirt as a skirt or as a top or dress
This obviously works great as a skirt – wear with your favorite tee or tank top and with or without a jacket, blazer or oversized shirt over, but it works wonderfully as a top too! Simply pull the skirt up over your bust and wear with wide leg palazzo pants! If you’ve made a long skirt, with less-than-knee-length slit, you can pull up the skirt as a dress, belt it at the waist and wear almost anywhere you’d wear a strapless dress! This also makes a great swimsuit coverup.
Style this with the Free August Blouson Tube top or the Greenbush Top in a floaty matching rayon fabric.
Fabrics for your no-pattern easy skirt
Light to medium weight fabrics work well, and not just summer rayon, cotton and linens either, you can make this in lightweight babywale corduroy, or lightweight wool for fall and winter wearing too. If you’re using a stable knit like ponte, you can sew this in a knit fabric and make a coordinating sweatshirt for a sporty-chic look. Good options for this would be the Mile End Sweatshirts by Closet Core, or a color block sweatshirt such as the Around the Block Hoodie by Ellie & Mac, or the sweatshirt from KnowMe 2138. The key thing is the fabric should scrunch up fairly easily so as to not add to much bulk at the waist. There are no darts shaping the skirt at the waist so the fabric has to scrunch up along the elastic.