what viv did: Sewing a baby skirt is, like, the easiest sewing project ever.

Let's sew a baby skirt, mkay? Oh, you've just started sewing? That's okay. Trust me. It's easytastic. And fun. And what's cuter than a little baby girl in a little bitty skirt? Only a couple things in the world are cuter than that. Also this is fast. I think it was a 30 minute project for me, and I could have sped that up if I wanted to and I was taking pictures.

Which reminds me. Prepare yourself for some awful photography. It's nighttime because that's really the only time I sew. Nighttime + decent photography = impossible. You've been warned.

One of the first things I did after I learned to sew was to make up my own baby skirt. Meaning it was the first thing I sewed without a tutorial or pattern. And I was scared. But I thought, what's the worst that could happen? I'll be out the couple of dollars that tiny bit of fabric cost me? That's okay by me.

If you know how to sew well, you're probably all, "What am I doing wasting my time reading this tutorial?" And to that, I would say to you, "I agree, what are you doing wasting your time reading this?" Move along, folksies. Nothing for you to see here.

Okay, grab some fabric. You won't need a lot. It'll depend on your baby. And grab a package of elastic. I like small elastic for little babies, like 1/2" to 3/4" max. I went 3/4" on this skirt because it's all I had left.

Now, you'll want to take her waist measurement. And then double it if you want a decently full skirt. You could even triple it and that would give you a very full skirt. I don't know that I've ever tripled it, to be honest. Now we have to determine length. You can't screw this up (much). I mean, keep in mind she's a BABY so let's be MODEST, but the sky is almost the limit here. I used to measure, but now I just eyeball. But you can measure. Really whatever floats your little row boat. If you measure your baby, do it from her waist to where you want the skirt to hit and then add at least two inches to that measurement to take into account the hemming and waistband. I'd be safe and add 2.5" because it's better a little longer than a little shorter. Well, in my book.

So cut out that rectangle. All nice and pretty. Want to see mine?

Alright, moving right along. Fold your rectangle in half, right sides together, like so (I realize it looks like I actually have wrong sides together, but that's just because this fabric has no wrong side - it's the same on both sides):

Now sew up that shorter side edge. If you have a serger then ~~I hate you~~ you are really lucky and you can just serge this up really quickly. Otherwise, sew a straight line:

Then trim off the edge:

Then zig-zag that bad boy or you'll be really annoyed when you pull it out of the dryer and it's fraying like WHOA.

Now press out your seam. I remember reading somewhere that this is the biggest difference between an amateur-looking sew job and a professional one. So now I press the heck out of my seams. The schoolgirl inside of me wants to laugh at that for some (probably inappropriate) reason.

Okay now it's time for my least favorite sewing thing ever. Hems. Sweet, sweet hems. They suck even more when they're baby hems because they're smaller and even more awkward to work with. I bet people out there in bloggy land have tips for making hems easier and I'd love to hear them because I only have a few.

First is the annoying part that I haven't found a way around yet - the 1/4" iron thing. Basically turn your hem up 1/4" all the way around and press. Don't sew this. This just makes your hem really secure so that you don't have all that fray stuff I referenced a second ago. Then it's time to fold your hem! Here's the only trick I have to offer: just fold up big right now. Does that make sense? Perhaps this should have been a video tutorial. Sometimes I don't know how to explain things.

Okay, like that. Does that make more sense? Just fold it up. Don't measure it or anything right now, just fold it up. And since my fabric doesn't have a wrong side, I feel obligated to tell you that you should be looking at the wrong side of your fabric right now (minus the hem you've just turned up, which will be the right side of your fabric). Just in case that wasn't clear.

Okay, now you can push it down until you have the hem size you want. I've always done little hems on baby skirts so I wanted to try something new and I went a little bigger at about an inch. Look at me, deviating from my norm. My husband would be so proud. Tear.

Go ahead and pin. Don't poke yourself, though. My hands are so beat up these days.

This reminds me of the time I sewed my finger. That was just last week and goodnessgraciousithurt!

Alright, now we have to do the top of the skirt. We'll be adding in elastic, so we have to leave quite a bit of room for this. I was using 3/4" elastic, so I went with this size hem:

Nothing scientific there, I just wanted to go a little over an inch to give myself some breathing room. The newer you are to sewing, the more room you might want to give yourself.

Okay, let's go sew again! I'm enthusiastic because I'm drinking coffee at midnight. Is that wrong?

Sew up your hem first. Or if you want to do it the other way around because you like to break the rules or go against the grain (ahem, MY HUSBAND), that's fine, too. I'm used to that logic so you don't scare me.

Hem? Check.

Waistband? Let's go!

Sew as close to the edge of the waistband as humanly possible. Well, as close as you can get while still actually sewing the waistband on. Don't forget to leave yourself a good 3" opening to put the elastic in later.

Okay, peeps, let's finish her up. Sew at the very, very top of the waistband now. Again, as close as you can possibly get. This time you can sew all the way around, no need to leave an opening.

Now you need to get the elastic. And measure and stuff. Or you can be too anxious to wait for your baby to wake up like I was tonight and you can just take a pair of her pants and measure that waistband (and add an inch) but it won't be as accurate and I may or may not have had to take apart a skirt in the past because I did this and then the elastic was too short and the skirt was so tight that she turned purple.

If you don't want to risk that, just go measure your baby's waist. And add an inch.

Cut your elastic. And lay it out all pretty on your almost-done skirt for a photo op.

Oh. I'm the only one who does that?

Now grab a REALLY BIG safety pin. The biggest one you can find. Pin one end of your elastic.

Shove it in the hole you left.

Now push it through, bunching the waistband as you go to get it all the way around. Then eventually you'll get it out the other end. Yay you! You're almost done.

Now overlap the two ends of elastic just a little bit and zig-zag.

Then even out all your waistband bunching.

LOOK, IT TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE A SKIRT NOW! AWESOME!

(caffeine talking, not me)

Finish it off by closing up the hole you left.

And...YOU'RE DONE! Voila! Pretty skirt!

EDITED: I tried this skirt on her the next morning and it was WAY too long for my taste (turns out a baby skirt can be too long) so I chopped it off and re-hemmed it shorter, which is this version:

Also, you'll notice I sewed a big bow to attach to the skirt and made a rosette headband. You can make this all yourself, or you can just make your life easier and buy it from our shop. That would be swell of you. :)

And now, the fabulous Addie Mae will model our new awesome baby skirt: