Tutorial: Patchwork girls skirt with pleated pockets

After I had cut the squares I was going through my blog reader when I saw Jessica from Me Sew Crazy made an adorable little wrap skirt from similar squares.
But she used those charm square fabric pieces you can buy .

I wish I would have thought of that as it took me quite awhile to cut out all of those little squares!
Charm packs are already cut into 5 inch squares and are perfect for a project like this!

Below is how to make the childs’ skirt :

You will need enough fabric for your squares, some 1 1/2 inch elastic and a knit fabric scrap to make a folded over waistband casing for your elastic.

Measure you child’s hip and double the measurement to make the gathered skirt. Divide that measurement in two. Each skirt piece will be your child’s full hip width.

Sew together your squares in one line until they are the measurement you will need.

Most likely your squares won’t be the exact measurement you need, but don’t worry. It doesn’t matter if your sewed together squares are a little too wide. Just don’t cut them! It’s important that all the squares stay the same size. It would look pretty dumb to have skinnier squares at the side seams.

For a toddler the skirt should be three strips of squares long to be knee length. For an older child it will probably be four. My skirt was 5 inches wide but you could make it super gathered or wider if you have a chunkier child.
It’s up to you!

Sew all the strips together. You will have two pattern pieces now.

Take a piece of knit fabric for your waistband. The finished measurement should be one inch smaller than your child’s waist.
 Make the strip  4 1/4 inches long to allow it to be folded over the 1 1/2 inch elastic and 3 inches wider than your child’s hip
Gather the skirt to be about 3 inches bigger than the hip measurement.
To sew on waistband stretch the elastic evenly along the waistband as you sew.

After making this I realized this was a pretty dumb method for sewing on a waistband, so don’t feel chained to this part of the tutorial!

If I were to sew it again, I would fold and iron the knit casing in half, sew the knit casing together at the ends and sew it to the skirt , leaving a small opening. Then I would thread my 1 1/2 inch elastic through the whole, bring it all the way through and sew the elastic together.
Duh!
Oh well, what do you want for a free tutorial?

On to the pleated pocket!

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