A Tutorial to Keep You Fashionable While Pregnant!

Pintuck Pixie (www.pintuckpixie.com)

Disclaimer: Please do not copy this pattern without permission of the creator and author. Please do not sell as your own item without prior consent and crediting Pintuck Pixie as your source for the pattern. Email all questions regarding the pattern and policies to tiffany@pintuckpixie.com.

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Supplies Needed: Flexible Fabric Tape Measure Poster board, construction paper or pattern paper that you can make large enough by taping together to meet your measurement needs Tape Scissors Pencil Marker Scratch Paper 1.5 to 2 yds Fabric 58-60 wide o 1.5 yds suitable for knits you will have a seam down the back of your skirt as well as on the sides o 2 yds suitable for knits and all other fabrics you will likely NOT have a seam down the back of your skirt only on the sides Matching Thread 1 Inch Elastic 1 Yard (See Note Below) o Measure your underbust measurement first this will determine your elastic needs. 2 Safety Pins Instructions: 1. Determine the following measurements before beginning: a. Underbust/Upperbelly measurement: Taken directly under your bust line, where the skirt will ultimately sit. b. Front Length measurement (fl): From the center of your underbust/upperbelly measurement, measure downward, over your belly, where you would like the highest point of your skirt. c. Back Length measurement (bl): You may ask a friend to take this measurement for you or you could look in a mirror to determine how many inches you would like the back to swoop down from the front. 2. To determine your pattern waist size (w), you will want to add approximately 6 inches to your underbust/upperbelly measurement. Once you have this measurement, use the chart below to determine your radius (r) of your waist circle on your pattern:
Underbust/Upperbelly Measurement 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 Waist Size (w) 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 Radius (r) 9.5 10 10.75 11.5 12 12.75 13.25 14 14.5

3. Add a seam allowance for the elastic waist casing to your (fl) meausurement of 1.5, as well as a seam allowance for a hem of .5 = 2 total. This will be your final (fl) measurement.
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4. Add a seam allowance for the elastic waist casing to your (bl) meausurement of 1.5, as well as a seam allowance for a hem of .5 = 2 total. This will be your final (bl) measurement. 5. On a small piece of scratch paper, draw out a mini-version of your pattern using the (r), (w), (fl) and (bl) measurements so that you can determine how much pattern paper you will need to craft your real pattern. It should look somewhat like this:

6. Create and Transfer your measurements from your scrap paper pattern to your actual pattern paper. 7. You will notice that the yellow line, your swoop of the hemline is subjective this is up to you! It will automatically have the high low hem. Here are variations to consider:

Even swoop front to back

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Dramatic swoop front to back 8. I highly recommend tracing your pieces with a large marker so that you can determine where they begin and end. Cut the pattern pieces out! 9. To determine where you place your side seam, after cutting out the large piece, simply fold the waist (w) in half down to the hemline of the skirt. Reopen the skirt, draw and additional line for the side seam and cut out. 10. Now you are ready to cut! If using knit fabric, you will not have to worry about the bias. However, if you are not using a knit, ensure that you cut your fabric on the bias (diagonal against the grain of the fabric) or it will not lay correctly. You will have 2 pieces. NOTE: If you chose to only purchase 1.5 yards of fabric, you may need to cut the back into two pieces instead of creating one piece by cutting on the fold. Simply cut a left and a right piece. Lets Sew!! 11. ONLY IF YOU HAVE 3 PIECES INSTEAD OF 2. IF YOU HAVE A FRONT AND A BACK, SKIP TO #12. Sew the back seam together by joining the two back centers, right sides together and seaming. 12. Place your back skirt piece on a flat surface so that the right side of the fabric is visible to you. Take the front skirt piece, right side down and place on top of the back skirt piece matching the side seams. 13. Pin seams together and sew each side. You may use a serger or a straight stitch on your sewing machine. If using a knit and not sewing on a serger, use a zig zag seam, double needle or your preferred knit sewing method. 14. If using a non-knit fabric: Fold waist band (wrong sides meet) down , press and fold an additional 1 to create casing for elastic. Begin sewing on the outside, side seam of your fabric at approximately 1 1/8 to ensure you catch the casing and create a nice pocket for the elastic. Stop approximately 2 before where you began to allow enough room to insert elastic properly. If using a knit fabric: You may choose to serge the edge of the knit, taking off approximately as you sew. This will bind the edge. However, as most knit does not ravel, you can choose to skip this. Simply
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fold over the waist band(wrong sides meet) down 1 , press and begin sewing on the outside, side seam of your fabric at approximately 1 1/8 to ensure you catch the casing and create a nice pocket for the elastic. Stop approximately 2 before where you began to allow enough room to insert elastic properly. 15. Take your underbust/upperbelly measurement and your elastic. This will be the guide for cutting your elastic to size. I like to subtract approximately 3 inches from the measurement when cutting my elastic to ensure that the skirt fits snugly on my body you make the call. Cut your elastic to your altered measurement. 16. Insert your elastic using the safety pin method. Secure one end of the elastic to the band of the skirt from the outside. On the other end, secure the safety pin so that you can use it for threading of the elastic through the casing. Gently feed this end into your casing and using the safety pin to guide it through to meet the other end that you have pinned. 17. With both elastic ends together, secure elastic by sewing with a straight stitch approximately from both ends, forward and backward several times. Secure further by separating the elastic ends and zig zag stitching each end to the elastic. Elastic should neatly tuck inside entire casing and lay flat. 18. From the outside of the skirt (right side of fabric), close up the 2 gap that you left in the casing for the elastic, securing the waistband into the skirt. (DO NOT SEW THE ELASTIC AT THIS POINT.)
Now all that is left is to hem the skirt and you are done! I suggest trying it on at this point in front of a mirror to ensure that you are happy with the length of the skirt. Make alterations if needed. Hemming Variations/Options: 1. Roll Hem This is easiest with a non-knit fabric it is incredibly small to allow for full movement in the skirt. Begin by carefully folding from the bottom of the skirt, wrong sides together. Press. Fold again to secure the fabric inside the seam. Press. From the outside, sew slightly less than from the bottom of the skirt all the way around to finish your hem. 2. Frayed Hem If you are sewing a linen and would like a frayed look, simply even the hem line (if for some reason it may not be straight) and with a straight stitch, stitch on the outside of the skirt at approximately from the edge. This will ensure your fabric does not fray farther than the . Simply wash and the fraying should take care of itself! 3. Serged Rolled Edge Hem Regardless of the type of fabric you are using, you can do a rolled edge hem on the garment (thats what I did). Simply adjust your serger to the correct setting, choose a thread you are comfortable viewing from the right side of your garment and sew your rolled edge hem from the bottom of the skirt all the way around. (NOTE: This is the type of hem that I did on my skirt See Pictures) 4. Knit No Hem Lots patience? Sometimes that happens when you are pregnant! If so and you have used a knit, simply even up the hem line and leave it! Enjoy your skirt! Tiffany

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