DIY Lace Skirt With Elastic Waist

Recently a friend gave me a whole roll of this really cool cotton lace fabric that’s really IN. My daughters love it and want me to make them tons of stuff with it. As usual! I’m like ” When will I have time to make myself something?” If you sew for other people , I’m sure you can relate…

So I made this super easy skirt for Lily and she was happy for the time being. It only took around an hour.

This skirt was made mostly on my serger. I used the serger to sew the seams and elastic together. Then I used the serger to sew rolled hems on the tops and bottoms of the muslin and lace pieces after I sewed them together. Lastly, I used my normal machine to sew the skirt to the elastic.

To make the skirt you will need:

A 2 inch piece of elastic.

A serger and a sewing machine.

Fabric marker or chalk.

A piece of lace cut to your desired length that is twice the amount of your waist measurement.

A piece of muslin cut in the same dimensions as the piece of lace.

Pins

Cut lace and muslin to the desired length. ( Lily’s skirt was 16 inches). There is very little hem because I made rolled hems on the serger, cutting off only about 1/8 inch.

Cut the width to be double your waist measurement.

Cut the elastic two inches smaller than your waist.

Sew the lace piece together at the sides, using the serger. I used one long piece, but you could cut two pieces as well.

Sew the muslin piece together with the serger. This could also be made in two pieces. But my skirt only had one seam in the back. I really didn’t see the point of having side seams, especially since my elastic had only one seam in the back.

Sew the elastic piece together with the serger.

Now switch the serger settings to sew a rolled hem, ( check your manual settings or Google), and finish the tops and bottoms of both the muslin and the lace with the rolled hem. I see a lot of rolled hems in stores. It’s definitely not couture, but it works for this type of quicky project!

Baste the lace skirt panel onto to the muslin panel at about 5/8 inch from the top.

Mark four spots on the top of the skirt. The two sides, and the center front, and center back.

Use a fabric marker or chalk to mark a line across the elastic that is 5/8 inch from the bottom. This is the line you will use to pin the skirt onto the elastic evenly.

Mark the elastic in four spots. The sides the center front, and the center back.

Pin the skirt to the elastic at the four spots marked.

Pleat the skirt to the elastic pinning on the marked line trying to make the pleats look even.

Leave the skirt a little bigger than the elastic in a few spots. This will allow the elastic to stretch better when putting it on.

Sew it down with a zig zag or stretch stitch on the normal machine.

Make sure to stretch the elastic in the spots that the skirt is a little bigger to allow the elastic to have give. If you don’t do this it may not go over your hips! Trust me on this one.

Well… that’s it for today. Now go make a skirt!