Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Bubble Skirt Tutorial!!!

I'm loving the bubble skirt trend right now.  I don't know what it is about seeing that puffy skirt on a little girl;  it's so sweet and innocent.  Naturally, I had to make one.  So here's a little glimpse of the skirt.  My little one would have no part in modeling this skirt, so Ms. C happily obliged for a few photos.  She's such a cutie!

Intrigued?  Want to make one for your little one?  (Or for yourself, don't worry, we want one too!)  Well, here's a step by step guide to making one or four, once you start making them you may want to make a bunch of them!  They are so simple to make!  PLUS they're reversible!!!

The Bubble Skirt:


Ok, so to begin you'll want to measure your recipient.  You will need to know the measurement from the waist to the knee (or however long you want it to be.)  Add 1 1/2 inches to this and this will be the amount you need for the interior fabric.  For the exterior you will want to add on about 3 1/2 inches and that will be the amount of fabric you need.  You will also want to know the waist measurement for the elastic waistband.   Now once you know these you will be able to figure out how much fabric you need.

What you will need:

  • Fabric one for the interior and one for the exterior.  (1/2-1 yard or so of each depending on your measurements.)

  • elastic 1 inch (enough for waistband)  and also 30 inches of  1-4 inch.  (add more if you are making it for a child over the age 5.)

  • thread, scissors, iron, ruler


To begin:

Cut out your fabric using the measurements that you recorded earlier.  You should have two large rectangles.



With right sides together, line up the short edges of one piece and sew a 1/2 inch seam.  Back stitching at the beginning and end.  Now repeat with the other fabric.

Press seams open.



You should have two tubes.  Good job.  Now insert the larger tube inside the smaller one with right sides facing each other.



Line up the bottom edges and pin all the way round.



Sew your seam close to the edge, about 1/4 inch or so, all the way around.  Now sew another seam about 3/8 to 1/2 inch from the first seam, ( it needs to be big enough to fit your 1/4 elastic through.) leaving an opening to feed the 30" piece of elastic through.

Now using a safety pin attached to the end, feed your elastic through the casing you just sewed.  Once it's through, sew the two ends of elastic together.  Tuck it in and sew the opening closed.

Congrats you're halfway there.  You just finished the bottom bubble part of the skirt!

Next flip your skirt right sides out.  Your main fabric will be longer than the lining fabric.

Take the edge of your main fabric, fold it over about 1/2 inch and press.

Now take that pressed edge and fold it over so that it covers the lining part.

Make sure that your edge covers the edge of the lining fabric.  I made sure that the two raw edges were aligned as I pinned them together.

I stitched as close to the edge as possible all the way around, leaving an opening for the elastic.

Feed your elastic through just as you did on the bottom part.

Once again bring the two ends together.  Sew.  Tuck into the casing.  Sew the opening closed.

You are finished!!!!

If you wanted, you could add a little bow or some type of embellishment to the waistband or anywhere really.



Hope you enjoy your new creation!!!

Don't forget, we'd love to see what you've made...please upload a picture to our Flickr group.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sewhipmama/

30 comments:

  1. so cute. i will def try this one. i might need to come shopping in your fabric closet though :)

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  2. It turned out just adorable!

    Thanks for taking part in Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family! Don't forget to come back next week!

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  3. Thanks, I'm happy to have stumbled upon it!!

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  4. How totally bubbly and cute! What a nice tutorial too!

    Love that baby gurl! She's a cutie!

    HUGS!

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  5. Thank you, and thanks for stopping by!!

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  6. This is fantastic! And I love that it's reversible! Thanks so much for sharing this, I'll be linking.

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  7. Thanks so much! I love your round ups!

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  8. Beautiful skirt! I really want to make one. Question: how wide is your skirt before gathering with the elastic? Thanks.

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  9. Hi, the skirt was the width of the fabric from selvage to selvage (folded in half) minus the seam allowance. Does that make sense? Basically, it was as wide as the fabric that you are using. So it's perfect for a little girl.

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  10. I love, love, loved this... so very easy to follow along. Thank you so much for sharing. My miss Ashelyn thought it was soooo coot!

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  11. Bubble skirts are so cute! Thanks for the tutorial! If you are interested, I've started a new Thursday Linkup called Make it, Wear it. Stop on by and link up!

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  12. AWESOME! What type of fabric? cotton?

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  13. You could use lots of different fabrics, I used cotton for the one pictured.

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  14. Awesome! Thank you for the instructions,
    so glad I came across your blog!

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  15. love this so much! posted it on PB today.

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  16. [...] more Internet searching I decided to make a reversible bubble skirt. (I added a store-bought shirt for a complete outfit.) How lucky that bubble skirts are as easy as [...]

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  17. [...] I finished our little friend’s bubble skirt, I thought, “Gee, that was easy. I could make one of those for my girl.” I just [...]

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  18. I tried to make this, but my bubble didn't turn out very well. It isn't very gathered along one side on the bottom. Did I make my casing too small? I can't move the elastic around very easily on the bottom. Is there any way to fix this? I have already finished it... :(

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  19. What length of fabric did you use? Was it longer than a 44" piece, that would affect it. Or maybe your casing is a little too snug if you can't move the elastic freely. I ripped my first one apart (what felt like) a million times when I was trying to get it the way I wanted it. I'm sorry for the frustration. I wish I could take a look at it and tell you more!!

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  20. [...] skirts are so fun and cute. Found a few good tutes here http://sewhipmama.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/the-bubble-skirt-tutorial and here http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2009/11/bubble-skirt-tutorial.html and came up [...]

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  21. Thank you so much for this, I made one for my daughter using your tutorial, I added a ruffle at the top of the skirt. It turned out so cute and she loves it!

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  22. Sounds cute!! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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  23. Thank you for the tut! I loved making this one! It was so simple and I can't wait until my dd wakes up so that I can snap a photo of her in it. I strayed a bit from your tutorial when I got to the waist band (I really liked the fabric and didn't want to waste it all on the interior). I added another strip and seamed it in to the top outer layer than made my casing from there. Thanks again!

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