How to sew an American skirt?

A skirt is the most provocative, flirty and feminine element of clothing, and an American skirt is a great addition to the wardrobe of any fashionista. You can combine a lush and elegant piece of clothing with tight tops, t-shirts, turtlenecks, chiffon blouses, with corsets with lacing on the chest and back. Such a skirt is suitable for graduates, brides and their girlfriends, and little girls in such clothes look like princesses. Today we decided to tell how to sew an American skirt with our own hands and according to our needs. And believe me, a beautiful and unusual American skirt with your own hands will cost you an order of magnitude cheaper, and it is easy to sew.

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How to sew an American skirt: step by step

In order to sew an American skirt with your own hands, you do not need to have special skills. Facilitates the task of the absence of the need to design a pattern and customize it to the features of the figure. All you have to do is:

1. Pick up the material.
2. Measure the length of the product.
3. Calculate the length of the frills.

Important! It is better to determine in advance the style and color of the fabric.

Step number 1. We prepare all the necessary materials

To create a fluffy skirt, you need a light, delicate fabric:

• Organza is suitable for a woman, but for a girl it is better to purchase tulle. This material is the strongest nylon mesh, which is incredibly difficult to tear.
• You can also use nylon chiffon with a density of 15 den and a knitted mesh for sewing a skirt.

Important! It will take 5-10 meters to sew one product, depending on size.

In addition to cutting fabric for the product itself, prepare the following materials and tools:

• Satin or crepe satin for making a yoke (about 30 cm).
• 2 spools of thread per tone fabric.
• Elastic band for a belt. The width of the elastic should be 3 cm, and select the length according to the circumference of the waist.
• Satin ribbon to decorate the product. The width of the tape should be at least 2 cm and a length of about 1 m.
• Flizelin for the coquette.
• Tulle or nylon mesh for ruffle.
• Scissors.
• Tailor needles, pin.
• Tape measure.
• Cardboard or pattern paper.
• Iron.

Important! The appearance of the skirt largely depends on the right shades. For example, a plain skirt looks great with a bright top. If you decide to use several colors when sewing the product, then limit yourself to 2-3 shades.

Step number 2. Preparing the pattern

The American skirt is distinguished from other products by its splendor and unusual cut. The shape of the product has something in common with a sun skirt and a tutu. To make an unusual product, you will need a yoke and 2-3 wide ruffles, to the edge of which ruffles are sewn.

To correctly calculate the width of the frills, proceed as follows:

1. Measure the length of the future product from the waist. Given that American skirts are sewn mainly for little girls, then for a child up to 1 year old, length 25 cm is considered sufficient, for ages from 2 to 4 years old - about 35 cm, for ages up to 10 years - 45 cm.
2. Subtract the length of the coquette from the obtained value (about 8 cm).
3. Next, subtract 3.5 cm from the width of the used ruffles.
4. Divide the resulting residue in half. This will be the width of the frill. However, the skirt will look much more interesting if you arrange the layers in the form of tiers. To do this, make the bottom layer 2-3 cm longer.

Important! In fact, a do-it-yourself pattern for an American skirt is not needed. It is sewn from three rectangles: one for the coquette, and two for the tiers of frills. For cutting ruffles, you can also use a rectangle 7 cm wide.

To cut strips on the material, make the rectangles on the cardboard.For example:

• To create a coquette, draw a rectangle with a length of 122 cm (at least two waist sizes) and a width of 20 cm. Do not forget that when cutting fabric, add 0.5 cm to the fold and 1 cm to the seams.
• For the strip of the upper tier, draw a rectangle with a length of about 7 m.
• For the lower tier, the length of the rectangle should be approximately 1.5-2 times longer.
• The length of the ruffle rectangle is 1.5-2 times longer than the ruffles.

Step number 3. Cutting material:

1. Fold the fabric four times for easy cutting.
2. Attach a cardboard blank to the fabric.
3. Holding the blank with your hand, cut the fabric along the edge of the cardboard.
4. Cut strips into the upper and lower tiers and ruffles.
5. Roll the resulting strips in the form of rolls and set aside.

Important! If you use nylon chiffon for sewing, it is better to cut ruffles along the length of the fabric.

1. From crepe satin (satin) cut strips for coquette.
2. Cut the same strips of non-woven to form a yoke.
3. Glue the yoke on the long side from below and from above with non-woven fabric.

Step number 4. Sewing a full skirt:

1. Sew the yoke into the ring on the short side. Leave a small area free for elastic.
2. Fold the resulting ring in half, iron it carefully.
3. Sew the individual parts of each frill on the short sides. It should be long stripes.
4. Assemble each frill (individually) along the length of the yoke.
5. Sweep the assembled tiers with the upper parts, sew to the bottom of the yoke.
6. Sew together the details of the ruffle.
7. Pick up ruffles, sew them to the bottom edges of the ruffles.
8. Put a wide elastic band into the yoke.
9. Manually sew an open section of the yoke.
10. From a satin fashion a beautiful bow, sew to a yoke. Between the tiers, you can also sew the finishing tape.

As you can see, an American skirt for girls and sewing with their own hands is a simple matter. Just imagine how your young princess will rejoice at the new new thing. And to make it easier for you to calculate the material and sew the outfit, we will conduct a master class.

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American tulle skirt for girls - master class

For the master class of the American skirt with our own hands, we decided to choose tulle (soft knitted mesh) and satin for coquette.

To facilitate calculations:

• Take a skirt with a length of 30 cm and a waist volume of 60 cm. All measurements and cutting will be made relative to the length of the product and waist volume (OT).
• For a coquette, it is necessary to make a rectangular pattern with a length of 2 OT.
• For frills: the pattern length is 9 OT (for 1 tier) and 12 OT (for 2 tiers).

We calculate the amount of fabric per skirt and prepare patterns from cardboard:

• Rectangle height 1 (yoke): 20 cm, length (at least 2 OT) 60 * 2 = 120 cm.
• Height 2 rectangles (1 tier): 11 cm, length 9 OT: 60 * 9 = 540 cm.
• Height 3 rectangles (2 tiers): 11 cm, length 12 OT: 60 * 12 = 720 cm.
• Cut ruffles with ribbons 7 cm wide.

To sew a skirt you will need:

• Atlas (crepe satin) with a width of at least 1.22 cm - 19 cm.
• Nylon Chiffon - 2 m.
• Wide elastic band (from 2.5 cm) - 0.55 cm.
• Wide satin ribbon (up to 3 cm) - 1 m.
• Fatin (nylon net for ruffle) - 44 m.
• Flizelin 1.22 cm wide, 1 m long.

So, all measurements are made, the materials are prepared, get to work:

• Fold the fabric four times, cut out all the necessary parts on cardboard blanks. Roll up the resulting blanks and set aside.
• Cut stripes from satin to form a yoke.
• Cut the non-woven (adhesive fabric) into strips.
• Apply glue cloth (non-woven) to the edge of the satin rectangle and iron on the wrong side of the satin.
• Sew the yoke on the short side. Leave a small slot for the elastic. To do this, find the middle of the short side of the part, measure 3 cm from it, put marks and make seams between the marks.
• Iron the seam and distribute the allowances on different sides. Glue the seam allowances in small pieces of a spider web. This is necessary so that after a while the cut for the elastic band looks neat.
• Bend the yoke in half face up. Align the yoke over the long sides and secure with pins.
• Move away from the fold of 3 cm and make a stitch.At a distance of 2.5-3 cm from the first line, make the second line. Iron the yoke. Now she is ready.
• Using a special foot for assembling the ruff, form ruffs from cut blanks. If you do not have a special foot, then proceed as follows:
  1. Set the maximum stitch.
  2. To the limit, increase the thread voltage.
  3. Stretch the fabric under the shoulder blade with both hands and wind it behind the foot.
• When forming a quilling strip, do not stitch together, but overlap one another. From all the cut ruches, form two ruches of the same length.
• Connect the short sides of the upper tier into a ring. Leave 3-5 mm for stock. Perform the same actions with the lower tier.
• Position the bottom tier and ruffle so that they face you. Sew the ruffle with an overlap to one side of the lower tier. Make a line on the side along which the ruffles are collected.
• Assemble on the opposite edge of the lower tier. To do this, increase the tension of the upper thread and use a long stitch.
• Connect the upper and lower tiers with each other. To do this: divide both frills into equal parts and, combining them, lay a line. Connect the tiers facing each other. Remember to leave 0.5 cm for the stock.
• Sew the trim tape between the frills if you wish. Proceed as follows:
  1. Bend from the wrong side the cuts of tiers towards the upper one.
  2. Sew the tape on the upper frill, going to the bottom, about 0.5 mm.
  3. Sew the tape with two seams (from the upper and lower frills).
  4. 0.5 mm from each edge. As a result, the tape should cover the sections of the tiers.
• Build the top tier. Connect the top tier to the top edge of the yoke.
• Sew the lower skirt to the bottom of the yoke.
• Connect the edges of the coquette together, between the upper and lower frills. Zigzag the edge of the yoke.
• Insert an elastic band and fix the ends with a manual seam.
• Cut the satin ribbon into 2 pieces of 50 cm. Sew them on both sides of the elastic band with a zigzag at a distance of 6-7 cm from the edge.
• Tie a bow and the skirt is ready.

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Stock footage

A very bright item of clothing will never be superfluous in the wardrobe of any fashionista. Imagine with color, style and length of tiers, and your daughter will always be a real princess at any holiday, and even in this outfit you will become the queen of the ball!