Step 1: Purchase 2 hankies for skirts up to size 12 months. For sizes 18 months-2T purchase 3. For sizes 3T-4T purchase 4.
If your hankies have a border (like those in the pictures) trim two opposite borders from each hankie. If your hankies don’t have a border, cut a 1 1/2” strip from two opposite borders of hankies.
Step 2: Admire your handiwork. This is what your hankies should look like after you’ve completed Step 1.
Step 3: Decide how long you want your skirt to be. For my 12-month size I did about 9-10” for the length. If you’re not sure, measure one of the skirts hanging in your little one’s closet.
Fold one of the hankies is half and lay on table with the two printed borders lined up at the bottom. Measure your desired length and mark with a dressmaking pencil, disappearing marker, or (if you’re disorganized like me) a washable Crayola marker from the kids’ toy box.
Step 4: Using a straightedge, draw a line connecting your markings from Step 3. Then trim through both layers of the hankie along the marked line. Note that you could easily use a rotary cutter & mat to make this faster.
Step 5: This is where your “eyeballing it” skills come in. Lay your trimmed hankie from Step 4 on the table. Then fold your other hankie in half (again with the printed trim along the bottom). Lay this other hankie on top of the Step 4 hankie until you love the distance of the ruffles. For mine, I wanted mainly the pink dotted border to show without much of the strawberry fabric in between. You can have your layers as long or short as you like.
Once you have it lined up just so, pick up both hankies together and carefully turn them over. Now the Step 4 hankie is on top. Use the edge of the Step 4 hankie as a guide for marking your cutting line on the second hankie.
Once you have the second hankie marked, trim along the line you’ve drawn. Because this hankie is the shorter of the two layers, the excess you’re cutting off (to the right of the scissors) will be wider than when you trimmed the first hankie. Again a rotary cutter could be used to simplify this step.
Step 6: This is what you have after completing the first 5 steps. You should have 2 sets of 2 hankie pieces; one set will be longer than the other. Both sets should be the same width, namely the width of the hankie minus the trim you cut off in Step 1.
You will also have the 4 strips you removed in Step 1, as well as two strips of the hankie fabric that you trimmed off (not shown in this picture).
Step 7: Take 1 set of hankie pieces (same length) and lay them right sides together. On my hankie you couldn’t really tell the right side from the wrong side, unless you looked at the hemmed edge.
Pin the short sides, right sides together, and sew side seam. Once you’ve done this on both sides you’ll have a big tube. I used a zig-zag stitch on mine so that I wouldn’t have to worry about the seam fraying inside.
If your hankies are like mine, they aren’t printed very precisely; my pieces were slightly different lengths. Because my hankie had such a big contrast for the border color, I made sure the borders were lined up when I sewed my tubes. That left the bottom edges uneven, but to me that was less noticeable than if the borders didn’t line up.
Step 8: When you’ve finished step 7, turn both hankie tubes right side out. If you’re a good seamstress you’ll press the seam allowances to one side and iron it flat. If you’re in a hurry you’ll skip that step; this is, after all, a playtime skirt tutorial! Place the longer tube inside the shorter tube. Line up the top edges and the side seams.
Step 9: Pin the two layers together along the top edge. (I skipped that since I’m lazy, but it’s best if you pin it first). Next sew two basting rows at the top edge. If you want a super duper looking gather, sew THREE basting rows instead of two. This allows for more control over the gathers and gives a nicer finished product.
Step 10: Pull the bobbin threads until the skirt is gathered such that the circumference is equal to your little one’s waist measurement plus 2-3”. My daughter’s waist measured 18 ½”; you can see here that my skirt is 20” around. After finishing it I wish I had left more room to make it easier to pull off and on, which is why I recommend making it a bit bigger than I did.
Step 11: Using the strips you removed from the sides of the hankie in Step 1, create a strip the same length as the circumference of your skirt plus 1” for a seam allowance. My strip measured 21”. Fold the strip right sides together and sew up the side using a ½” seam allowance. You now have a border tube that is the same circumference as your skirt top.
Step 12: Turn the tube you made in Step 11 wrong side out. Place the skirt inside the tube. Line them up so that the top (raw) edges are even. I put the seam in my tube at the center point of the two side seams in the skirt; this will be the back of the skirt. You could also line up the seam with one of the side seams. Pin in place.
Step 13: Sew along the raw edge. The width of the seam allowance isn’t vital. The important part is that if you did 2 rows of basting for gathering, you want the stitches to be in between the 2 rows. This keeps you from having big, uneven, folded over gathers. If you did 3 basting rows you want the stitches to be between the bottom two rows. Sew all the way around, then remove any basting stitches that are showing on the outside of the skirt.
Step 14: Optional. My seams weren’t laying flat (because I didn’t press them) so at this point I pulled them flat, tucked under the portion that didn’t line up, and did a bit of top-stitching to secure the seam allowance.
Step 15: Now we’ll form the casing for the elastic. Because we are folding down the hemmed edge from the border of the hankie we don’t even have to fold down, press, then fold down again. You’ll want to fold your binding onto the inside of the skirt. The stitching line will be as close to the hemmed edge as possible; pin it so that your stitching line will be just above the seamline from Step 13. This way the seam on the outside of the skirt will be on the printed border rather than on the strawberry fabric. That way the seam won’t show much, and it also won’t mess up your lovely gathers. Once it’s all pinned up, stitch all the way around leaving a 2” opening for inserting elastic.
See how the new stitching line shows through onto the border fabric? That’s why you want matching thread; when the skirt’s done you won’t even see it!
Step 16: Choose the elastic width you want. I used 3/8” elastic, which works well for the baby crowd. With toddlers you may prefer a strong, wider elastic. If you do that you’ll need to adjust the width of your casing, perhaps by sewing two border strips together lengthwise to make your casing twice as wide.
Measure the elastic to the same length as your baby’s waist measurement. Use a safety pin to guide through casing. Overlap about ½ to 1” and stitch in place. Sew up 2” gap in casing. Admire the finished product!
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