Women’s Arabella Skirt

Interfacing

Fuse a strip of lightweight interfacing to the wrong side of the Front Waistband, using the manufacturer’s instructions.

If you are not adding Pockets, skip to step 2. If you are adding Pockets, follow below.

SERGER / OVERLOCKER OPTION – With right sides together, position a pocket piece on the side seam 1 inch from the top raw edge of the Skirt. Repeat for the other 3 Pocket pieces so you have one on each front and back side seam. Serge in place using a ½ inch seam allowance. Before sewing, make sure to check you have the mirrored pattern pieces matching when you put the fronts and backs together. 

REGULAR SEWING MACHINE OPTION – We are going to do French seams. The reason we will be doing French seams is because it hides all the raw edges and gives a much cleaner finish. If you haven’t done these before, don’t worry, all the steps are below so you can just follow along. 

If you are doing the Pockets, determine where you would like your Pockets to be, taking into consideration any seam allowance along the waist and bottom. I recommend placing 1 inch from the top of the Skirt pieces.

Place your Pocket’s with the flat side along the outside edge of your front piece, with wrong sides together.

Pin and sew your Pocket along the straight edge using ¼ inch seam allowance.

Trim your seam allowance in half.

TIP – You are trimming here so that when you encase the seam in the next step all the threads and raw edges are hidden. I generally try to trim my seam allowance in half as I like to make sure absolutely nothing is sticking out. However just neatening up the edge here will also suffice.

Flip your Pocket over so right sides are together and press well along your seam.

Sew along the edge of the Pocket with a ¼ inch seam allowance.

You will now have a fold on the top and bottom of your Pocket.

Snip ¼ inch into the seam allowance of the Skirt piece, just adjacent to the Pocket, so that the fabric now lies flat. Do not cut further into the seam allowance or past the Pocket. 

Repeat on the bottom of the Pocket.

Flip your Pocket out and press your seam well.

Edge stitch along the Pocket/Skirt seam.

To do this, keep the Pocket piece flipped away from Skirt.  Top stitch between 1/8 and ¼ inch from seam line.  This will hide the raw edges and catch the seam allowance, so it all lays flat in the finished garment.

Repeat steps 1.1 to 1.5 on the other side of the Skirt piece and also on your Back piece to attach the other Pockets, making sure the Pockets match up equal distances from the top.

SERGER / OVERLOCKER OPTION –

• POCKETS OPTION: Place the front and back Skirt pieces together, serging down each side seam pivoting around the Pockets using a ½ inch seam allowance.
• NO POCKETS OPTION: With the front and back right sides together, serge down each side seam using a ½ inch seam allowance.

REGULAR SEWING MACHINE OPTION – Follow below. 

NO POCKETS OPTION – Place front and back Skirt pieces wrong sides together and stitch all the way down the side seam using a ¼ inch seam allowance. Skip to step 2.4.

If you would like multiple layers, do this for each layer.  

POCKETS OPTION – Once you have your Pockets attached to the front and back pieces, we will put it all together. 

Place your front and back pieces with wrong sides together, matching up the Pockets and also the top and bottom of your Skirt. Pin.

Starting at the top of the Skirt piece, sew ¼ inch seam allowance down the side until you are ¼ inch over the top of the Pocket.

Lift your presser foot, pivot so you are facing down the Pocket, drop your presser foot and continue around the Pocket, still sewing with a ¼ inch seam allowance.

Once you are ¼ inch onto your bottom piece again, pivot until you are parallel to the side seam. Sew to the bottom. 

Trim your seam in half.

Flip your Skirt so that right sides are now together. Press well. Match up the tops and bottoms of the Skirt (and if you have done them, the top and bottoms of the Pockets).

NO POCKETS OPTION – Stitch the side seam using a ¼ inch seam allowance. Turn right side out and press towards whichever side of the Skirt you would like to be the back.

If you would like multiple layers, do this for each layer.  

POCKETS OPTION – Sew down the side of the Skirt, around the Pocket and ack down the side, all with a ¼ inch seam allowance. Turn right side out and press the seam towards whichever side of the Skirt you would like to be the back.

Repeat steps 2.1 to 2.4 on the other side of the Skirt.

If you are doing the optional sash, follow the steps below. Otherwise, skip to step 4.

Fold one sash in half along the long side, right sides together.

Stitch along the open long edge and down one short edge. Leave the other short edge open.

OPTIONAL – Create a pointed end by starting at the folded edge and sew along the short edge, at a 45-degree angle towards the long raw edge, stopping ½ inch before the edge. With needle down, lift foot and pivot and sew with a ½ inch seam allowance to the end of the long raw edge.

Clip corners, and then turn through.

OPTIONAL – Top stitch both long sides and enclosed short side. This will give a crisp edge to the Sash. If you would like a more billowing look (like the last photo in the step above), do not press or topstitch.

Repeat steps 3.1 to 3.4 for the other Sash.

If you are not doing the Sash, skip to step 4.2.

If you are doing the Sash, pin the open edge of either Sash to either short side of the front waistband, right sides together. 

Position it so the Sash is ½ inch up from the bottom edge of the front Waistband (the Sash should be the same width as the Waistband when finished).

Baste in place ¼ inch from the edge.

NOTE – From here on, the steps are the same for the Waistband regardless of whether you have done the Sash or not. If you have, make sure to keep the Sash out of the way when stitching.

TIP – If you have not done basting stitches before, they are long loose stitches designed to hold fabric in place while you complete a garment. They will not be seen in the final garment and can be removed at the end if you wish. Set your sewing machine either to a ‘basting stitch’ if it has this setting, or simply to the longest stitch length possible if it does not.

With right sides together, stitch the Front and back Waistband side seams (keeping Sash out of the way if you did this).

Your Waistband should now be in a circle. The back section will be much longer than the Front. It will not fit your waist yet. This is correct.

Press seams towards back. 

Fold Waistband in half long ways, wrong sides together and press. It should still be in a circle; it will just be shorter.

Then fold one long edge under ⅜ inch. If you have done the Sash, this will be the edge furthest away from the Sash. If you have used directional fabric, make sure this is the top edge. Press.

Open your pressed folds back out. We will not use these yet, they are just there to use as guides later.

We are now going to stitch two rows of gathering stitches around the top of the Skirt from side seam to side seam of the front piece of the Skirt. Repeat with the back piece.

Set your sewing machine to a gather stitch. This will be the longest stitch length possible with no backstitch (also called a locking stitch) at the beginning or end and will have loose tension. Depending on your machine you may also need to loosen your bobbin tension.

Stitch your first row of gathering stitches close to the edge of the fabric (approx. ⅛ inch). Stitch your second row of gathering stitches approx. ¾ inch from the edge.

When doing rows of gatherings stitches, I like to start at one side seam and sew to the next side seam. Cut your thread, leaving a long tail of thread hanging off (like in the photo). Start stitching again just after the side seam, and stitch around to the next seam. 

You should now have two rows of gathering stitches all the way around your Skirt, each of which run from side seam to side seam.

If you are adding multiple layers to your Skirt, do this separately for each layer.  Then match up the top edge of each layer, right side to the wrong side of the next layer up.  Baste with a long, straight stitch along top edge.  Treat these as one piece while attaching Waistband.   

TIP – Stitch in the same direction for both rows of stitches (e.g. clockwise or counterclockwise). It doesn’t matter which direction so long as both lines of stitches go the same way. It’ll make gathering a lot easier.

TIP – Use a different colored top thread to your bobbin thread. That way you can differentiate them more easily later when you come to gather it. Plus, it’s a great way to use up all those left over bobbin threads I find I have!

Find the center front and center back of Waistband and mark with a pin or fabric marker. 

Repeat with the Skirt to find the center front and center back.

Both Waistband and Skirt should now be back in their circle shape but with pins at the center front and center back.

Now we are going to attach the right side of the Waistband to the right side of the Skirt fabric. To do this, your Waistband should be right side out and your Skirt should be inside out.

Start by slipping the Waistband inside the Skirt, with the edge you haven’t ironed at the top. Match the side seams and pin these together. 

Then match the center front, and center back points where you put the pins in the previous step. The benefit to also matching the center back and center front is that when you gather in the next step you can then do it in quarters, and you’ll know your fabric will be more evenly gathered.

We are now going to gather the Skirt. The best way I find to do this is in quarters.

Starting at a side seam, find a pair of bobbin threads and very gently pull on both equally to gather the Skirt. Gather the Skirt all the way across the quarter you are working on until the Skirt in that section fits the Waistband.

You will need to spread the gathering out gently with your fingers, so it looks evenly gathered.

Then move on to the next quarter and so on until the whole Skirt has been gathered and now fits the Waistband.

NOTE – Your Skirt will still look far too wide at this point. Don’t worry, you do not need to gather the Waistband. When we insert the elastic later on it will make it the correct size. The Front Waistband is flat so the Skirt will be more gathered here.

Stitch in between the two lines of gathering with a ½ inch seam allowance.

Remove the gathering stitches by gently pulling the ends of gathering thread so that they come all the way through the ruffle. Find the thread from the underside of the ruffle and pull this out too. 

TIP – You may find the thread snaps if you pull it too hard or your fabric is quite thick. If this happens, just pull the other end and the rest of the thread should come out there.

Unfold the Waistband up away from the Skirt.

Press seam allowance up towards the Waistband.

Fold the Waistband downwards in half with wrong sides together and pin to the seam between the Skirt and Waistband.

Make sure that the raw edges are folded upwards towards the Waistband so that they are all caught inside when you pin the Waistband down. The raw edges should all then be hidden.

TIP – When you fold the Waistband down, make sure to place the folded edge (the one you pressed in step 4.4), so it is just below the seam between the Skirt and Waistband. That way when you do step 6.3 you will catch the Waistband on both sides when you sew. I overlapped mine by approximately ⅛ inch to do this.

TIP – Pin from the right side of the Skirt directly along the seam between the Skirt and the Waistband. Keep flipping it over though to check.

NOTE – We are working with the BACK Waistband only in this step. Do not pin or stitch the Front Waistband yet.

From the right side of the Skirt, start at the LEFT side seam and stitch along the back waist seam only, where the Skirt meets the Waistband. This is called ‘stitching in the ditch’, where you sew exactly on top of a previous seam. The stitching will not be easily visible in the finished garment, and you will just catch the other side of the Waistband in your stitching, so the raw edges are all hidden, and the back Waistband is completed.

Stitch slowly and hold the Waistband & fabric flat either side of the presser foot to help you get the stitch right into the crease so it’s not visible on the finished Skirt. Lift the Skirt up occasionally and check you are catching the other side of the Waistband in your stitching.

TIP – If you’ve used a contrasting fabric for your Waistband, change your bobbin thread to match it before stitching.

TIP – Use a thread in your needle that matches the Skirt and aim for a tiny fraction onto the Skirt instead of the Waistband and it usually ends up fairly invisible. 

ALTERNATIVE – If you would prefer, you can topstitch stitch on the actual Waistband (approximately ⅛ inch from the crease). Your stitching will be more visible but it’s definitely much easier! 

OPTIONAL – To help the elastic sit better in the Waistband, also topstitch along the top edge of the Waistband all the way around the Front and back Waistband. This will give a little paper bag type effect at the top of the Waistband where taring it.

REGULAR WAISTBAND – Skip to step 7.1

HIGH WAISTBAND – Stitch a seam evenly spaced between the top edge and Skirt seam of the back Waistband, creating two channels for where your elastic is going to go in the next step.

Thread the elastic into each channel on the back Waistband, leaving ½ inch sticking out. Secure elastic at side seam, by stitching “in the ditch” of the side seam. 

To stitch in the ditch for this step, you are stitching on top of the line where the Front and back Waistbands join. If you have added a Sash, sew along the seam between the Sash and the Front Waistband.

Continue to thread elastic through. Pin at the opposite seam.

NOTE – If you did the regular Waistband, there will be only one channel and one piece of elastic. If you did the high Waistband, there will be two channels and two pieces of elastic. Whichever you have, you will have one piece of elastic per channel.

TIP – To thread the elastic, I like to pin one end of the elastic to the Skirt, so it doesn’t slip inside. I then put a safety pin on the other end and thread it through using that to guide it.

FIT CHECK – Try the Skirt on, adjust the elastic so it is comfortable.

Secure the elastic at opposite side seam in the same way as step 7.1 by stitching in the ditch.

NOTE – If you measured your elastic from your model and added 1 inch, this should work perfectly as ½ inch overlap on both ends = 1 inch in total coming off the elastic. If you used the elastic measurement chart in the cutting out section, then don’t worry as it’s already been worked out for you. Either way if you are able, still do the fit check and try it on so you can be sure the fit is exactly as you want it.

TIP – If you are using a heavier weight fabric, and/or are making one of the larger sizes, the weight of the fabric may stretch the elastic enough that the Waistband sags. I recommend if possible, you try the Skirt on and shorten the elastic, before continuing to the next step.

Close Front Waistband using the same method you enclosed the back Waistband – by stitching in the ditch or topstitching.

FIT CHECK – Try the Skirt on and check whether the finished length is what you would like. The finished hem will take 1 inch off the length. Make any adjustments you wish and continue.

SERGER / OVERLOCKER OPTION – Serge a ½ inch seam allowance. Then turn the hem under ½ inch, press and topstitching in place.

REGULAR SEWING MACHINE OPTION – Follow below.

Turn the hem under ½ inch all the way around and press.

If you have multiple layers, do this for each layer separately.

Turn the hem under another ½ inch all the way around (so the raw edges are hidden inside) and press. Then stitch approximately ½ inch from bottom of Skirt to hold the hem up. 

If you have multiple layers, do this for each layer separately.

TIP – You want your stitching to be the same distance from the bottom of the Skirt as much as possible, so it looks nice and neat from the outside. To do this, use your presser foot or a marking on your foot plate on your sewing machine to line up your fabric so you get a nice even stitch all the way around.