kojotutorial: girly, ruffle-y maternity skirt

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Do you ever have a day when you look in your closet with an, “Ugh”?  That’s been me this week.  My regular clothes look tight and funny and not great… and my maternity clothes from Burke are both too big and too geared-towards-winter (not to mention, I was teaching full-time when I was pregnant with Burke, so that makes my old maternity wardrobe far more ‘professional’ than I’m needing now).

 

I’ve been wishing for something pretty and feminine that actually fits.  Then I saw this petticoat by alisaburke (above left).  Isn’t it lovely?  I’m not needing to add any fluff or breadth to my skirts (I have plenty of homegrown fluff and breadth currently), but I loved the idea of pairing the pretty white ruffles of the petticoat with the homemade by jill pencil skirt (my version above right) to add a little loveliness to my maternity wardrobe.

If you’re wanting to do the same you’ll need:
-about a yard of white fabric (mine is cream broadcloth)
– strips of other white fabric, lace and trim to make the ruffles
-a too-tight tshirt for your belly band
-a sewing machine and thread
-a fabric pen

1. With your long rectangular piece of fabric (that will soon wrap around, skirt style), start adding rows of ruffles to the bottom.  I used the finished edge as the hem (it was covered by ruffles anyway).  I added some lace trim, a row of jersey (old white tshirts cut in long 2″ strips and ruffled), muslin and some sheer lining-esque material for the rows of ruffles.  You could go wild and ruffle the whole skirt if you’re leaning more towards the petticoat feel.

2. Fold your fabric in half.  One half will be the front of the skirt, one half will be the back.  If you have a maternity pencil skirt that fits, use it as your template to trace (on the wrong side of the fabric).  If not, you can pretty easily use a pre-maternity skirt to trace your pattern (you’ll be adding a belly band to the top and the bottom of the skirt sizing is pretty similar to pre-maternity sizing).  I made my skirt about 20 inches long (that’s the length minus the belly band), but this is sort of a preference thing.  You might even make it longer than you think, try it on, and pin at the length you like.

3. Once you have your lines traced, mark the middle of the ‘back’ of your skirt and cut a slit (mine was about 10″).  Go ahead and iron and finish off the edges of each side of your hem.  Then reinforce the top of your slit with a few stitches as well.

4. Following your template lines, stitch straight lines up the sides of your skirt.  Make sure you match up your lines of ruffles so that you don’t stitch them in place where they don’t line up with each other.

5. Now that the bottom of your skirt is finished, you’re going to attach the belly band.  For my belly band, I cut off a too-tight tshirt under the armpits and folded it in half lengthwise (creating a little tube with two pieces of tshirt fabric all the way around).  Pin the open end of the tube (where you still see two pieces of fabric, not a crease) to the outside top edge of your ‘skirt.’  The jersey will be smaller than your skirt, but you’ll stretch it as you stitch the pieces together.  I pinned the side seams in place first so they’d match, then chose a spot that was both the middle of the tube and the middle of the skirt and pinned there.  That put the fabric in the right place so I could add more pins as needed.  Sew the two tubes together.  I reinforced by stitching over that line a couple of times so that the belly band stays put.
*Sidenote-  I feel more than a little weird showing my growing belly to the wide world via the internet, so y’all will have to bear with me through some sort of awkward pictures here for a bit…

6.  Pair with a flowy shirt and wedges, or even a t-shirt and flip flops, for a go-to girly look!

ps- The rows of ruffles are not low maintenance, but I think you could easily make yourself a less frilly, less labor intensive version of this skirt as well.  In fact, I am pretty sure I am going to try just such a thing; I’ll show you when it’s finished.

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38 Comments

  5. Hi! I found your blog @ The Girl Creative! I love the cherry dresses you made for your girls, and the skirt is extremely cute! I blog myself over @www.thebradybunchfamilyblog.blogspot.com- come visit! I love your blog!

    Reply

  7. Love the skirt wish wish wish I could sew!!!! you two cute sisters! I LUB MY SISTER TO PIECES… FYI! 😉 JGG

    Reply

  9. Thanks for coming over and checking out my new blog and my pear tutorial! That skirt is completely adorable! Great work! I will definately link up next Friday – thanks for the invite!

    Reply

  10. I'm going to have to try that! My first baby was born in Jan and now I'm due in Oct so my summer maternity clothes are limited to a few shirts…the skirt looks great!

    Reply

  13. Wow, this is incredible!! I don't need maternity clothes right now, but I want this skirt anyway, it's gorgeous!!! Great job!

    I've added you to our link list so we'll be linking up our projects this Friday! Thanks for your comments on the tiered display, hope you like the results as much as I do! Have a great week! 🙂

    Reply

  17. Girl, you've got some great legs! I see some of my friends commented here…I'm feeling a girl project coming on!

    Reply

  19. Thank you for your sweet comment! I would LOVE to join up on Friday. Cute blog by the way and super cute maternity skirt! It almost makes me want to get pregnant again….almost!!!

    Reply

  22. Kirstin and Jordan:

    I just wanted to say thank you for the time and effort you put into your blog. I love your ideas and inspirations.

    I was recently provided a "Sunshine Award" which I wanted to pass along to you as a thank you for all the beauty you bring to all of your readers. Thank you both. You are beautiful and amazing ladies.

    [http://pinktea-cj.blogspot.com/]

    Reply

  24. This is very cute! And your little baby bump is adorable. I would love to make one myself!

    Reply

  25. So great! Perfect combo of dressy and casual….Thanks again for linking up on Craft Schooling Sunday, I always look forward to seeing what the two of you are up to! all the best, Sara

    Reply

  27. i love this!! I'm so going to make one of these! I featured this as one of my faves at iheartnaptime.blogspot.com. Hope you'll come back next week for another Sundae Scoop

    Reply

  31. OOh!! I love it! I hated getting dressed when I was pregnant! Too too clever and it looks beautiful!

    Thanks for linking!!

    Reply

  32. Beautiful! I really like it!

    Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday. Please join me next week for another great party!

    Reply

  35. This skirt almost makes me want to be pregnant again . . . almost. It's so cute. I think I will still be trying my hand at a non-maternity version.

    Reply

  38. thanks so much for posting this! I wanted to make one for my prego sister, but decided I should make one for myself first – just to make sure I knew what I was doing – and I LOVE IT!! 🙂 Mine is a bit different, but majorly based off of yours. Thank you so so much!! 🙂

    <3 Katie

    Reply

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