Shift Dress Hack: Gathered Skirt
Why not add a gathered skirt to the mix?
You don’t need the side slits because the skirt has plenty of room for movement, but they would be cute if you left them. Measure the width of your Skirt pattern piece and write down the number. Add 3/8 seam allowance at the bottom of the skirt.
How do you attach a gathered skirt to bodice?
With a 1.5cm/5/8u201d seam allowance, sew the bodice to the gathered skirt, gently smoothing the gathers sideways as you sew to keep them at a right angle to the stitching lines. Press the seam allowance up towards the bodice, taking care not to press and flatten the gathers too much.
How do you line a dress with a gathered skirt?
Layer the lining fabric over the inside of the skirt fabric, ensuring that all sides except the hem are aligned. Sew the lining to the skirt fabric with a zig-zag stitch. Sew two straight seams about 0.5cm apart along the skirt’s waistband.
How do you attach gathered fabric?
Place a pin to mark your centers, then gather your fabric slightly. Place your fabrics together, right sides together, with the edges that need to be sewn together. Pin the two ends together (shown on left), and then pin the two centers together (shown on right).
What fabric do you use for lining a dress?
Here’s some advice: For summer clothes like flimsy dresses, skirts, and pants, choose cotton lining fabric (lawn, voile, or batiste) for cotton garments and silk lining fabric for silk garments (habotai, chiffon, satin, crepe de chine). Viscose and rayon linings are also great options.
How do you calculate a gathered skirt?
Begin by cutting two large rectangles for the skirt and one long rectangle for the waistband. The waistband piece should be 5.5 inches tall and as long as your waist measurement plus one inch, so if your waist measurement is 30 inches, each skirt rectangle should be 45 to 60 inches wide.
How do you calculate fabric for a gathered skirt?
Multiply your waist measurement by 2 to determine how much fabric you’ll need. For sizes 8 and under, you’ll only need 5/8 yard of lining if your lining fabric is 55-60u2032u2032 wide; for sizes 10 and up, you’ll need 1 1/3 yard of lining. For the main fabric, any width of fabric will work.
How do you gather stretchy fabric?
Another quick way to gather fabric is to use elastic thread or thin elastic cording. Simply place the elastic within the seam allowance of your fabric and zigzag over it, then pull on the elastic ends to gather the fabric, which is easy to adjust because the elastic is flexible.
How do you finish a gathered seam?
One of the more traditional ways to finish gathers is to trim the seam allowance to 3/8″ and zig-zag stitch over the edge. This is fine, but it will look a little fuzzy over time. If you have one and like to use it, you can also use a serger.