Full Circle Panel Skirt
Fabrics that work well for this skirt are light weight polyester, cotton or poly cotton blends. You can also use satin, light weight velvet or lace.
An adult sized skirt from this pattern will require around 3 to 4 meters of fabric, depending on the width of the fabric and printed designs on the fabric. If images are printed so they will be upside down if viewed the wrong way, more fabric is needed so all parts can be cut in the same direction.
You can create your own pattern for a circle skirt on a large sheet of craft paper or buy paper specifically designed for making patterns.
First you need to measure around your hips so you can pull the skirt up to your waist.
The waist measurement will come later when you cut a piece of elastic to fit.
The circumference is the measurement around your hips.
Next we need to calculate the radius for the pattern. Just divide your hip measurement by 6.28
As an example – if you have a hip measurement of 100cm and divide by 6.28 you get 15.90. Round that up to the next whole centimetre of 16cm for the Radius.
Mark the Radius measurement from one corner, along one edge of your paper.
Moving towards the other straight edge of the corner, mark this same distance from the corner in small steps to create a quarter circle.
Next measure the length you want from your waist to below the knee.
Add the length to the radius to get the total pattern length.
Mark the total length from the corner of the paper in the same way as before to create a much larger quarter circle.
Cut out your pattern.
Pin the pattern to your fabric, lined up with the grain (lace may be an exception), and cut out four times.
If you have not done any sewing before and need to know more about grain-line, follow this link.
Alternatively, make copies of the pattern, layout and pin 4 patterns to your fabric.
If you fold your fabric in half, layout 2 patterns, pin and cut through two layers at one time.
When you cut your fabric, add a bit all the way around to allow for seams and hem.
The pattern can be cut out of one fabric or you can alternate a plain and pattern fabric by cutting half the patterns from a contrasting fabric.
For an 8 panel skirt, divide the pattern in half, divide the pattern in 3 for a 12 panel skirt and divide into 4 parts for a 16 panel skirt.
Depending on the type of fabric or the fabric pattern, you may be able to alternate the direction of the patterns while still lining up with the grain. This way you can limit the amount of left over, wasted fabric.
Sew together with a straight stitch.
I generally sew over again with an overlocking or zigzag stitch to stop the edge fraying. If you own an overlocking machine you will probably just join each piece with the overlocker.
Work your way around the skirt, joining all the remaining panels and join the final two edges together.
Hemming the skirt can be done before or after adding the waistband.
First you may have to sew around the bottom of the skirt with an overlock or zigzag stitch to stop fraying.
To create a hem, lay the good side down and fold a small amount of fabric over in small steps, to keep the circle edge. Pin your way around the entire edge then sew a straight stitch in a matching colour.
If you want to try a more advanced method, if your sewing machine can do it, you could use a blind hem stitch.
You could use a contrast colour thread with a decorative stitch but you will need to sew on the top (good side) of the fabric and may miss some of the fabric edge folded under.
Alternatively you could attach a frill or lace edge to the bottom of the skirt.
Links to two methods of creating a waistband are below.
I add a fabric waistband to most of my skirts.
An adult sized skirt from this pattern will require around 3 to 4 meters of fabric, depending on the width of the fabric and printed designs on the fabric. If images are printed so they will be upside down if viewed the wrong way, more fabric is needed so all parts can be cut in the same direction.
The pattern
First you need to measure around your hips so you can pull the skirt up to your waist.
The waist measurement will come later when you cut a piece of elastic to fit.
The circumference is the measurement around your hips.
Next we need to calculate the radius for the pattern. Just divide your hip measurement by 6.28
As an example – if you have a hip measurement of 100cm and divide by 6.28 you get 15.90. Round that up to the next whole centimetre of 16cm for the Radius.
Mark the Radius measurement from one corner, along one edge of your paper.
Moving towards the other straight edge of the corner, mark this same distance from the corner in small steps to create a quarter circle.
Next measure the length you want from your waist to below the knee.
Add the length to the radius to get the total pattern length.
Mark the total length from the corner of the paper in the same way as before to create a much larger quarter circle.
Cut out your pattern.
Pin the pattern to your fabric, lined up with the grain (lace may be an exception), and cut out four times.
If you have not done any sewing before and need to know more about grain-line, follow this link.
Alternatively, make copies of the pattern, layout and pin 4 patterns to your fabric.
If you fold your fabric in half, layout 2 patterns, pin and cut through two layers at one time.
When you cut your fabric, add a bit all the way around to allow for seams and hem.
The pattern can be cut out of one fabric or you can alternate a plain and pattern fabric by cutting half the patterns from a contrasting fabric.
Multi Panel Pattern
If you want to break the circle into more panels, divide your patterns up further but remember to add a seam allowance to each piece.
For an 8 panel skirt, divide the pattern in half, divide the pattern in 3 for a 12 panel skirt and divide into 4 parts for a 16 panel skirt.
Depending on the type of fabric or the fabric pattern, you may be able to alternate the direction of the patterns while still lining up with the grain. This way you can limit the amount of left over, wasted fabric.
Sewing
Now that you have all your fabric panels cut out, pin one panel to another with the right sides together.
Sew together with a straight stitch.
I generally sew over again with an overlocking or zigzag stitch to stop the edge fraying. If you own an overlocking machine you will probably just join each piece with the overlocker.
Work your way around the skirt, joining all the remaining panels and join the final two edges together.
Hemming the skirt can be done before or after adding the waistband.
First you may have to sew around the bottom of the skirt with an overlock or zigzag stitch to stop fraying.
To create a hem, lay the good side down and fold a small amount of fabric over in small steps, to keep the circle edge. Pin your way around the entire edge then sew a straight stitch in a matching colour.
If you want to try a more advanced method, if your sewing machine can do it, you could use a blind hem stitch.
You could use a contrast colour thread with a decorative stitch but you will need to sew on the top (good side) of the fabric and may miss some of the fabric edge folded under.
Alternatively you could attach a frill or lace edge to the bottom of the skirt.
Links to two methods of creating a waistband are below.
I add a fabric waistband to most of my skirts.
