Circle Skirt with Bow

I found some instructions to make a circle skirt with a bow and decided to adjust the instructions to suit me. ( http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/easy-skirt-with-a-fluffy-back ) I had decided to make a skirt for my younger sister, who is 5 and is quiet little. I forgot to write down the measurements for next time because I made up the instructions along the way, it took me a few hours as I am still a beginner, however I am getting better. This skirt is suitable for anyone of any age! Here is a picture of the finished piece: 

                                                                              Front

Back 

Materials

•  Material (any kind but suitable and fashionable for a skirt and a large rectangle piece)
• Extra Material for the bow (rectangle piece and a tiny square)
• Any sized elastic (depending how big you want the waist band to be)
• Needle
• Thread

Instructions:

To create the Skirt

1. This skirt can be made with any material of your choice, I'm unsure what type of my material is. Measure the waist of yourself or the person you are making it for and wrap it around you or the person to mark the width of the skirt onto the material. And the same process length wise (it depends on the person and style; if it's going to be highwaisted or on the waist). 

2. Making sure the material is cut straight on all sides and make a hem at the bottom of the material using straight stitch of about 1.5cm , it may be easier to pin it in place, to keep it from moving, although don't forget to take out the pins along the way as you sew (note: if the hem is puffy, press it down gently with the iron). 

Pinning the hem in place

Sewing the hem 1.5cm with straight stitch

3. To create the band at the top of the skirt (depending how big you want it) fold over and press, to help when sewing. Now put the elastic at one end of the fold and pin it into place and sewing repeatedly over the elastic vertically facing you, just at the edge(back and forth) to help the  material be held into place, make sure you do it many times to keep it in place.  (a problem I had was I hadn't stitched the elastic properly into place that it came undone, although I fixed it; more in the next step).

                                                     Pin the Elastic on one end to be sewn

  

4. Now stitch all along the top to enclose the band (depending on how much you want and the size of the elastic) and to make it easier to keep the elastic in place, pin it down. Once it has been sewn, while holding onto the elastic from the open end, take out all the pins holding the elastic, however keeping the pin at the open end because now you are to sew the elastic down just as it has been done at the other, making sure to go back and forth many times, to have a tight grip. (continuing with the problem I had, the elastic had come undone from where I stitched it in the first end and I didn't know what to do, so my mum told me to use a safety pin to push it through, however I didn't need to do that because I held the hole of the band facing me and let the elastic fall right through back into place and I restitched it this time, going back and forth about 10 times).

                                               Pin the elastic into place to help when sewing

                                                       Sew along the top to create band

                                    How it should look when both ends and elastic has been sewn

5. To close up the skirt, turn it inside out and stitch the ends of the skirt together, measuring about 1.5cm from the edge and after that press the ends of the material open to flatten it out. 

                                              Sew 1cm from the edge and press open the ends

                           

To Create the Bow

1. Depending on the size of the bow you want, have a rectangle piece of material (before sewing try this) and fold it in half and stitch along the long side (1.5).

                                                              Fold the material in half

                                                        Sew 1.5cm along the longer side

                                                                 How it should look

2.Once that has been done, turn it the right way, with the stitching hidden in the inside. Grab the material in the middle and the gather it to create the middle of the bow and pin it into place. Now stitch along the middle of the gather to create the middle of the bow.  (however don't worry about the stitching showing that will be covered )

                                                         The middle gather being pinned

3. To enclose the sides of the bows, fold about 1cm of of the fabric inward of both sides and hold into place with a pin. Then choose a fancy stitching on your sewing machine ( because this stitching is going to show), sew along the edge  and rounding off the corners. 

                                                                    Folded in material

                                                    Stitch with a fancy stitch along the edge

4. With a small piece of fabric in the shape of a square ( has to fit around the middle of the bow to cover the earlier stitching visible), measuring to fit the middle of the bow. Hand stitch it to the bow at the back, so it is attached to the bow.

                                               Pin the small square material around the middle

                                                                Hand sew into place

Attaching the Bow to the Skirt

To attach the bow to the skirt, continue hand sewing the back of the bow to the back of the skirt (or else where if you choose to), continuing with the same thread stitch it into the band of the skirt and to make it stronger, into the elastic as well. (But DON'T let the hand sewing be SHOWN) Hand Stitch over it many time so it doesn't loosen and fall off.

                                                                   Hand sew into place

Your Done!