I hate hemming. It's certainly easier now that I have a rolled hem foot and a serger to speed things along, but I still despise it. I want them to be perfect, but often don't want to spend the time to make them so. This idea for a bubble skirt came to me as I was wondering what to do with the remaining yardage from my scoop neck tee. I quickly put it together in about an hour, minus some unpicking because I pinned the skirt on wrong. Penelope reacted as she normally does with complete and utter elation. But when I asked for a photo or two, she gave me the stink eye. Gummy worms did the trick for this session. I would suspect this would be the perfect kind of tutorial for a sheer or semi-sheer lightweight material. The knit drapes and flounces nicely here. Outfit details:

• top: Walmart
• skirt: handmade
• shoes: Target

Read more for the full how to!

Supplies

• 1-2 yards lightweight fabric
• seam ripper
• sewing machine
• scissors
• pins
• 1 1/2 -2 inch wide elastic
• paper
• pencil
• measuring tape

Measure your waist and desired length, write it down. Cut your elastic the length of your waist. Cut the yardage your waist times two (or more if you have more yardage) by the desired length times two plus 1 1/4 inches for your seam allowance. Fold your yardage in half, meeting right sides together. Sew a straight line along the length of your skirt. Bring the bottom edge up to the top (making a little doughnut with all the raw edges together). Make sure wrong sides are facing together. Right sides are facing out. Baste stitch 5/8 inch from the top (raw edges) of your skirt. For best gathering results, do two rows of baste stitches.  Gather the skirt just larger than the waist. Sew right sides of your waistband together. Use a short stitch length here and be sure to back tack and the beginning and end of your stitch. Measure out the quarters (front back and sides) of the skirt and elastic. Pin those points together. You'll have some gaping between those pin lines, and that's okay. The elastic should be smaller than the skirt here. Sew a straight line, stretching as you go to line up the skirt and the elastic together. Open up the elastic, press the skirt and wear!

This printable is free for personal use only.