A Delicious Melody: Sparkly Skirt Tutorial

So, you may remember a couple of years ago, right before my hubby and I ran our first 5k, I bought a new running skirt--called a Sparkle Skirt. (check out Sparkleskirts.com) It's fabulous, beautiful, sparkly and made in the USA! If I had a lot of money I would buy one in every color...or at least a couple more and some of their tech skirts.

My new Sparkly Skirt!

But since I can't, I was happy with my dark pink one...until I ran across some sequined fabric at Wally World that was only $7.49 for two yards! I don't know about you, but I'm still disappointed that Wal-mart isn't carrying regular fabric by the yard anymore...but at least they have some pre-cut fabrics in various types now (I saw burlap, tulle, cotton, poly, sequined and a few others)! I picked up two yards of the black sequined fabric and went on my merry way.

My black fabric with my SparkleSkirt on top.

I was excited to get started on my skirt. I first laid out the fabric on my little card table. Then I placed my Sparkle Skirt on top of it for some guidance. I carefully cut a circle around the skirt out of my black fabric. My circle measured about 36" in diameter. You can adjust this depending on the length of skirt you want. Although, you'd have to probably do some piecing if you want it longer unless you find a wider cut of fabric than I did. :) I cut a line on the radius to make it easier to sew later. I suppose that is an optional step though.

Circle cut out with radial line.

Then I decided to make a yoga style waistband since I don't have the fancy wicking fabric Sparkle Skirts does. I cut about 8" off of the bottom of an older black tee. Then I cut one seam off to make it one long strip.

Bottom of shirt for yoga waistband.

Long strip of shirt material for waistband.

Now fold your large circle into forths. Like so....

Now you have to use a little math. Measure around your waist, or hips or wherever you want your skirt to rest when you have it on. Take that number (which is the circumference of the waistband) and divide it by Pi or 3.14 to get the diameter of the circle you are going to cut out of your fabric! Make sense? So, for example if you have a 28" waist where you want to wear your skirt, you divide 28/3.14= 8.92" and 8.92" (and you can round to 9 if you want!) is how big of a circle you want to cut out. Since your fabric is in fourths though, you'll want the radius which is half of the circumference or 8.92/2=4.46". I recommend using something like a compass to make sure you get a perfect circle cut out. If you look at my pic below you'll notice I didn't use one... :/ Luckily these skirts are forgiving! :)

Here's a close up of the fabric below....cute huh? This would also work for a skirt for a costume or a little girl!

Once you have the inner circle cut out, fold the waistband material in half like a hotdog. Then start pinning it around the inner circle. Be sure to pin the outside of the waistband to the outside of the skirt material so that the seams are on the inside.

Sew around the waist and leave about 1/4" seam allowance. If you have fancy stitches you can use those...I just used a straight stitch and went around twice.

Once you have the waistband attached you can sew the whole thing together. Pin the sides of the skirt so they match at the bottom and then finish off the waistband too.

Slip it on and see how it looks. (don't ask about my hair...my bangs were driving me nuts and I put them in an apparently crazy high clip! ha!) These skirts (and fabric) are very see through, so you have to wear something under them. I prefer my spandex capris, but to each their own! :)