Hi Everyone!
To me, half circle skirts are the most feminine of all – they fit all body types, are very elegant and to top it all of – very easy to make. They are made using your exact measurements, thus very little to none fitting is required to achieve best results each time – how great is that?
The only way to make half skirts better is to add them to a dress – I have recently made two of these beauties and could not be happier with the final looks, as I feel very feminine and classy wearing both of these dresses!
Adding half circle skirts to any dress is very easy, thus I would like to share a quick inspiration “how to” – one is made with regular half-circle skirt, and the second one is high-low hemline option. So, let’s move to the quick tutorial!
ADDING A HALF-CIRCLE SKIRT TO A DRESS
Choose any fitted dress or shirt pattern that you like – as we will be adding a half-circle skirt as the bottom of the dress, you will use only the top part of the pattern.
Cut the pattern at the waist line – you will use the top part for the dress, and the bottom part will be half-circle skirt, which we will draw in a few seconds. Important note: make sure that the waist of the pattern you choose is exactly the size you waistline is, otherwise you will not be able to install the skirt properly!
Measure your waist (let’s take an example and say the waist line is 70 cm) and decide on how long you want your skirt (for this how-to, let’s say the desirable lenght is 50 cm).
Now the fun part – let’s draw a half circle skirt! Honestly, I don’t do paper pattern for this skirt, I draw everything straight on fabric (yes, it’s so easy to draw), but of course you can make it from the paper first, if you like.
A detailed drawing of this skirt is in the photo below, so let’s brake it down step by step: A. start by folding fabric in half (the folding line will be the front of your skirt), mark a center point on the folding line, 2cm from the top of the fabric (these 2cm will be your seam allowance) and make a straight horizotal line till edge of the fabric (this will be the back seam of the skirt). B. Calculate the radius, which will be your waist divided by 3.14 (at our example, the waist is 70cm, so the radius will be 70/3.14=22.3cm). From the center point, mark the calculated radius, making a nice curve from the folding line all the way till back seam – you will get a nice curve (quarter of the circle, to be exact) and it will be the top of your skirt and your waistline. C. To the radius, add your desired skirt lenght (in our example 22.3cm+50cm=72.3cm) and mark it from the center point again – you will get a bigger curve (a bigger quater of the circle) and this will be the bottom of your skirt. And that’s it! The red lines in the drawing show where to cut (don’t cut the folding line! And don’t forget to add seam allowance to the top and hemline (for the hemline, I ussually leave 1-1.5cm, as I like to overlock, fold the overlocked part and stitch it with this kind of skirt).
6. Add a freshly-cut circle to the top pattern you chose before adding a back zipper and it’s done! Told you it was easy, didn’t I? :)
ADDING A HIGH-LOW HEMLINE HALF-CIRCLE SKIRT TO A DRESS
This will be an alternative variation for half-circle skirt – the fron will be slightly higher than the back, thus creating a very dressy and even more feminine look. Here is ho to achieve this effect:
Draw the half-circle skirt as instructed above, but don’t cut it just yet.
Divide the skirt pattern in half (blue dot line in the drawing) – this is the sides of your skirt. At the front folding line, mark 3cm or more from the bottom of of the skirt and make a nice curve till blue line. At the back seam line, add 3cm or more from the bottom line and again make a nice curve till the blue line. And here you go – the red lines show where to cut your high-low hemline skirt! (p.s. my dress in the photo has 3cm taken from the front and 3cm added to the bottom, but of course, you can use any desired measurements to create even more fabulous look!). Add this skirt to your to the top pattern of your dress and you’re done!
Hope you liked this short how-to! Leave a comment if any part is unclear – I will answer any question you may have!
Best regards,
Julie