I'm actually not much of a sewer. I can sew straight lines. Tablecloths, curtains, that sort of thing. Putting in a zipper scares me.
Oddly enough, I have been known to make rather amazing medieval costumes, including corsets and billowing linen chemises... but then I never used "patterns", I just sort of... figured it out. Using mostly rectangular pieces of cloth like medieval sewers would have, and for the corset, just pinning and cutting on the body that would wear it. Playing Human Dolls again, I'm afraid.
But this is how I made a very easy tiered peasant skirt, which I thought was very pretty.
First I measured my hips, and bought double that much plus about 6" ease and fudge-factor out of 45" wide fabric. (If you live in Metric Land, I cannot help you much. Yard and a half wide... meter and a half wide... somethingish... Sorry!) I chose a nice batik cotton because I figured it would be easy to work with, and would hide lots of mistakes.
I decided I wanted a skirt that would hit me just below my knees. (I am 5'7" tall.) I also decided I wanted it VERY FULL. I wanted it to be so full it would SWING when I walked and give me a really flippy feminine feeling. (YMMV -- maybe it makes you feel masculine!) But I didn't want a lot of bulk around my stomach and hips, because who needs to add emphasis there?
I chose to make three tiers on this skirt, and to double the amount of gathering on each tier.
With this width fabric, it just so lucks out that I can cut the fabric into quarters lengthwise and end up with 11" bands that sew into 10" tiers that look just smashing.
As it turns out, the skirt is very adjustable, because I could have easily taken up more length in the hem had I wanted, or sewn a deeper waistband, or added another level TO the waistband.... You'll probably understand better once you see it in front of you.So, you've got your fabric cut into four lengthwise bands. The top and bottom (selvedge-edged bands) I would sew together (on the short edge, selvedges matching) and set aside to use as your final bottom hem. You could cheat and not hem them at all, but selvedges do crumple up when washed, so I recommend turning and hemming them at least once. But when dealing with this much yardage you'll thank me for saving you any steps possible, so don't bother cutting them off, and turning and hemming only once is good enough!
This leaves you with two 10" bands cut from the middle of your fabric. One is left whole. This is the second tier of your skirt. The other you cut in half shortways. This is the first (waistband) tier of your skirt. So you see, the fabric is to double in volume, being gathered tier by tier.
From the "waste" piece of fabric you could extend the length of your skirt at the waistband if you needed your skirt longer. This skirt is intended to be worn with a shirt out over it, or at least with a belt covering the waistband, so an extra seam shouldn't be an issue. Or you could use the extra fabric to make a cute accessory like a belt, a headband, a t-shirt applique, or even a hair scrunchie if you felt so inclined.
To gather your fabric, sew a double row of very long basting stitches close to the edge of each band of fabric. (Not any selvedge edge.) Be sure to use strong thread, even quilting thread, because this is going to put a lot of stress on things, and if the thread breaks you pretty much have to start all over, which is a bummer.
Pull on the bobbin threads only, and try to gather as evenly as possible across the entire width of your fabric. It helps if you mark the center and quarters of what you're gathering, as well as the center and quarters of what you're gathering TO (or sometimes you may need even more markings than that, as with the bottom tier!). I like to mark mine with safety pins with a bit of red felt pinned into it, as a flag. Very visible, doesn't fall out, holds both layers together for comparison if I want, just seems to work.
Once your bottom layer is gathered smoothly to the one above it and pinned to your satisfaction, I REALLY recommend a serger if you have access to one. It just makes the job SOOOO much nicer! If not, you have to make do with good old fashioned straight-stitch and overlock, and a bit of prayer.
So, construct your three-layer fabric as a "flat" piece first. THEN go back and re-measure and finesse and decide how much ease you want and whether you want to add a pocket (another good use for that "waste" fabric!) and sew up the side seam accordingly. Do also sew up the hem. If you're feeling lazy, maybe you could get away with using that iron-in hemming tape like my mother used, but that always seemed to wash away after a while. Probably better off sewing it.
Now you have a cone-shaped tube. Actually, it's a cone that could probably form a circle, but it was constructed from all rectangular pieces! (I love that.) Step inside the tube and get a feel for it. How do you like where it falls? You can adjust it quite a bit, really. Make a really deep casing for the waist elastic and it'll shorten the skirt, make a shallow one and it'll lengthen the skirt.
Do I have to tell you how to make a casing for waist elastic? I will if you need me to, but for now I'm going to assume you get the gist.
The cool thing about this skirt is how versatile it is. I've tried it on lots of people (though honestly no men yet) and have never seen it NOT flatter anyone. That's bodies ranging from very petite to bordering on HUGE. Same actual skirt. Just needed a little drawing up or letting down.
And if anyone is interested in going one better and making it floor-length, that is totally doable by just doubling the amount of fabric started with, and adding another tier. Other instructions pretty much the same. Graph paper helps figure out exactly where to cut what, though.
But the "peasant skirt" in general is also a great way to use up old scraps of fabric, like quilting fabrics, old denims, old flannels, even my infamous flannel bedsheets! (They were cool--dark plaid green, I loved them!) You just cut everything to whatever size tier you're making, even in short increments, and when you have enough you just gather one tier to another. Tiers can be any width you wish, and gathers don't have to be anywhere near as full as I made them for this skirt. Especially if tiers are shallower, like 3-4". You can even mix sizes of tiers within one skirt.
I just caution you that if you mix things up too much within one skirt, you do end up looking pretty hippie. Which can be cool, but makes you start feeling you need a daisy chain and granny glasses every time you put it on...
Happy sewing!
