Bracken Crafts- 100 garments: How to make a puff ball skirt

So they said after my op I must wear elastic waist shorts or skirts. I remembered making a few of these skirts from my youth so decided if I really must wear elastic waists rather than a normal boring dirndle skirt why not a puff ball. So this is a very easy to make puff ballskirt with a basic elastic waist and its cost £6 using Ikea basic black cotton for £3 a metre. So cheap as well.

The fact its black will I hope not mean its impossible to see what I am doing here since I am hoping to show you how to make this. Its been 30+ years sice I made one of these but its still a very easy skirt to make.

So you start with your 2m of Ikea fabric Ditte which according to Ikea is 55 inches wide. I never measured it so am taking their word for that. You may need more than 2m depending on how big you want this and how long.This skirt is probably to fit a UK 8-12 dress size so adjust for yourself.

Really your lining can be any fabric but it works best if it is the same weight as the outer skirt. You used to have people make these with a layer of tulle betwee the inner and outer skirts giving a very full effect but I am just going for a basic black cotton puffball for everyday wear.

I made the lining for this as a tube. You can, if you prefer, make an A line lining and follow the rest of the directions. This will make it flow more but I know what these are like and prefer less bulk in my hem width.

So decide how long you want your skirt. I want mine to finish just above the knee cos its an autumn/winter skirt and just cotton tho with the double layer shoudl actually be quite warm. This skirt for me has worked out 50cm long or 19.5 inches when measured from below the waistband to hem and layed flat but because it puffs out it hangs slightly above that when worn.

Outer layer
To make this I cut two full width rectangles from my fabric - 69cm / 27 inches - this is the front and back outer layer.

Lining
Then I cut one long rectangle that is my hip width + 4inches or 10 cm long
so for my own lining this was a rectangle that is 40inches / 102cm long and 41cm wide. To cut I folded the fabric in half, measured down at various points to 41cm / 16 inches and then drew a chalk line straght accross the fabric and cut it there.

I also cut a waist band from the left over fabric the same width as my lining but about 4 inches deep or 10cm deep.

These are my cut out bits with two extra rectangles which were intended as in-seam pockets but I completely forgot to add these during the making and by the time I remembered it was half sewn up.

Due to the amount of puffiness these skirts work very well with in-seam pockets if you want some.
Anyway I just forgot to add them.

Making the skirt

So to make this first sew up the short sides of the lining to make a tube.

Sew the two larger rectangles to make a very large tube - this is the outside. If you want pockets include them in the side seams at this point before you start constructingthe skirt itself.

Put your machine to the longest stitch length and sew a row of stitches all around the open edge of one side. This is so you can pull the treads to gather it evenly. Really you should use two rows to gather and then sew between them but on the bottom it does not need to be perfect because no one will ever see this so I only use one row because I am lazy.

Gather the edge evenly until it will fit the smaller lining tube.To gather pull the bobin thread at one end only and carefully gather all around. Do not be tempted to gather from both edges because invariably you break the thread and have to start all over again.

Mark quarters round lining tube before pinning the outer layer

Pin the lining at every quarter to the gathered part with RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.

Then this is what it will look like after pinning:

Be careful not to twist the fabric of the outer layer when you sew it to the lining. I have managed to sew it twisted loads of times in the past.

Sew. Remove pins before you get to them DO NOT sew over pins. If it breaks the needle which eventually will happen you risk losing an eye.

I sew two rows of stitching when sewing gathers just to make sure its secure but that is up to you. I just go round the skirt twice.

After sewing if you open the skirt out it looks like this:

Its not the best picture but I never thought to take many at this stage so where the longer edge goes off the photo imagine a raw edge - a bit like a basque waisted skirt.

Now, sew two rows of stitches on a long stitch length around the other edge of the larger tube so there are now two rows of sticthes to gather because this edge will join the waistband and will be seen.

Gather evenly to fit the top end of your lining:

You need to pin it WRONG SIDES together this time.Again using quarters add 4 pins around the liing attaching the outer skirt. Then pin between the original pins so you have lots of securing pins to ensure it stays as even as possible as you sew it together.

Pull the lining through the gathered skirt leaving the rights side of the gathered section outside.

Pin in place - you can just about see pins here:

The opposite end - bottom of skirt should look like this if you flip the hem up:

Sew between your 2 rows of gathered stitches so you keep an even distance from the edge all the way round.

Now we need a waist band:

This (below) is the inside of the skirt.

Pin the two layers to the waistband so you sandwich the gathers between the lining and waistband fabric:

Sew:

Fold the waistband over.

So now you have the basic puff ball skirt and just need the waistband. At this point you can either have a nice enclosed doubled over waistband as shown pinned above or you can cheat like me and overlock the open edge as below.

Its very thick now with a gathered layer sandwiched between the lining and the waistband so you need to sew slowly and carefully not to break the needle. You can make a nice neat waistband like the first picture by turning under twice but it makes for an extra two layers of fabric so I over overlocked the bottom edge and then just folded over once. This also means that if you pin in place carefully you can sew on the right side which makes it much easier to have a neat row of top-stitched stitches on the outside where you will see the stitches.

Again remove the pins as you get near to them.

Sew a second row half way down the width to give two channels for the elastic. Or if using narrow elastic sew lots of channels 1980s style where we used loads of narrow channels with narrow elastic. Some skirts had 7 rows of narrow elastic to make them strong. Anyway I am aiming to just have 2 rows of 1inch elastic. That should be plenty to keep this up even though its going to be quite heavy with all this fabric.

I estimated for two rows of 1 inch elastic. This was actually a bit out and I ended up folding part of my elastic edge over so is a bit squashed as you will see in the pictures below.

Now the hard bit. Use a stitch ripper to open the back seam on the INSIDE of the wasitband on each channel so you can thread in the elastic. Sadly I managed to rip some of my fabric but it really will not matter and it will only be seen by me. Once you have threaded the elastic in and sewn the ends, then you can just catch the holes shut by hand.

You can also, if you like, have a frilly paper bag effect top to the waistband as seen here by only adding the one row of elastic if you prefer.

This is mine with my two rows of elastic and as you can see I underestimated somewhat, because its ended up a bit squashed. Try not to twist your elastic as you thread it because undoing the twists is very difficult. If the channels are too thin you will end up with squashed elastic like mine. Its still Ok though because more than likely this is only being worn while I am in recovery - still you can never be sure. I used to love this style of skirt and it may end up sticking around for the entire winter yet. You can obviously make this much shorter or longer as well.