Simple Skirt for Baby

Skirts and dresses are SO cute on baby girls! And they work great until they hit the crawling stage, when all they want to do is move. That's when leggings come in handy. They're easy to move in, don't get stuck under baby's knees when crawling and go with about anything. But once they start walking, it's time to pull the skirts and dresses back out again. My baby sister just started walking and it's so fun to watch her toddle around the house. Skirts are finally starting to work for her again and she makes them look really cute! So follow along and I'll show you how to make this really cute skirt for a baby girl!

• 2 yards colorful fabric. I used a light weight cotton, which worked well.
• 1/2 inch elastic
• Lots and lots of pins
• A measuring tape
• An iron and an ironing
• Thread preferably in the same color as your fabric
• Scissors
• And last, but most definitely not least, a sewing machine. Unless, of course, you'd prefer to do the sewing by hand ;)

To start, lay your fabric across an ironing board and iron, making sure to get out all the wrinkles. This will ensure that whatever lines you cut will be straight and you'll be getting the most out of your fabric. You'll be doing quite a bit more ironing before this skirt is finished, so keep your ironed on, just be careful!

Lay the fabric on a flat surface, then measure 10 inches from the bottom and 23 inches from the side. Using a washable or fabric marker, make a mark every few inches along the top (10 inches from the bottom). Measure before marking, because you want the length of the fabric to stay at 10 inches.
Once your measurements have been marked, proceed to cut along your marks. This mark always tends to scare me, because I know once I cut the fabric, I can't go back on it. I always just have to hope that I do it right the first time ;)

Set aside the long rectangle cut out that will be the skirt. Don't start cutting that up, at least not yet ;)

Go back to the original fabric, finding a part that matches the skirt. Using your measuring tape, measure 9 inches from the bottom and place a mark at both the top and bottom. Then measure 2 1/2 inches to the left and right of the bottom mark. Cut diagonally from the bottom to the top mark, making a long triangle.

When I cut these out, one of the big things I tried to do was keep the design in the triangle (as you can see above). So when you cut, make sure to cut the triangle with whatever design is on your fabric in mind.

Bring back the skirt rectangle and measure 9 inches from the bottom. Since I have little elephants and other designs on my fabric, I cut the slit in between each one, as you can see in the picture above.

Each of your triangles will fit between one slit later on.

Take a triangle and aline the bottom of the triangle to the skirt, then pin in place, going all the way to the top of the triangle. The right side (or the more defined part that would be the front) of the triangle fabric should be facing the right side of the skirt fabric.

Sew along the pins, double stitching the bottom and top of the triangle. When one side of the triangle is finished, repeat with the other side. Continue to do this until all the triangles but one have been placed between slits. This last triangle will connect the two sides, and you don't want to do that quite yet.

Lay the skirt, triangles and all, along the ironing board and carefully iron the triangles so that there are no bumps where the seams are. This will help make the skirt look like it's just one piece.

Sew on the last triangle, completing the skirt. Iron one again to make sure it's all smooth.

Take your skirt and measure one inch from the bottom. Make a mark at one inch along the bottom of the skirt. Then fold the bottom of the fabric to the mark and iron down. Pin the folded hem down around the skirt, and then sew. Try and keep the stitches in the middle of the hem while sewing. It'll give it a nicer finish.

Measure 1 1/2 inch from the top of fabric and make a mark. Fold over and iron down, then pin. Then sew, sewing close to the edge of the hem, making room for the elastic that will later be inserted. Sew around the waist of the skirt, but stop two inches from the beginning stitch. This will give you the space to insert the elastic in a moment.

Measure 20 inches of 1/2 inch elastic and cut. Pin a safety pin to the top of the elastic and insert into the opening on the top hem. Make sure that the elastic isn't twisting while you thread it through, because you want to end with a flat waist band.

When the elastic is completely threaded through, take both ends and sew them together. I went over my stitches a few times, because I do not want this to come undone at any point while the baby is wearing it! It'll help to keep it sturdy and secure, which you'll need for a baby.

Once the elastic is sewn, sew the little opening closed. The waistband is done!

Trim off all loose threads and you're ready to try this skirt on your little model!