It's Raining Hearts! - Elastic Waist Skirt 12-18 months

Every little girl should have a skirt or may be a dozen of them! They can't get enough of it. Of course, you can't get enough of them flaunting it. 

This was one of the first projects I completed using Brother. Sweet wore this with a pair of leggings in early February and received many compliments! Though I have made about three of these so far, this print is my absolute favorite!


 

Things needed:

Fabric: 1/2 yard or less of quilting cotton (or any other fabric). I bought this one at a local fabric shop.

Sewing notions: 3/4 inch elastic for waist, coordinating thread (I used white), safety pin, scissors, iron, sewing machine

Pattern: This is the simplest pattern ever. All you need is ONE rectangle of desired length and width. That's it!!

OK, let me explain more:

1. Measure your child's waist and multiply it by 2 (or by 1.5 if you don't want the skirt to be too full). Add 1 inch to this. This will be the width of your rectangle.
2. Determine how long you want the skirt to be. I used this chart for standard measurements. Add 2 inches to this.

Time taken: 1 hour (or less) depending on your skill level.

Tutorial:

1. Cut a rectangle piece of fabric with the measurements above.
2. With the fabric folded into half (width-wise) and right sides facing inward, sew up the side seams with about 0.5" seam allowance. You should now have a tube.
3. Create the casing for the elastic by folding and pressing about 0.5"and then another 1"  from the top edge of the tube (on the wrong side). Sew leaving enough opening on both ends for the elastic to go through.
4. Now insert your 3/4" elastic through the casing using a safety pin and pull it through the other end. The skirt should start gathering nicely. Sew the two ends of the elastic together and then close the open ends of the casing.
5. Hem the bottom edge of the skirt.

The finished garment measures 17" around the waist and is 10" long.

The matching loopy bow is made with satin ribbon.