How to Make a Simple Skirt Without a Pattern

Materials

• String or ribbon long enough to more than encircle your waist
• Round tablecloth (The louder the pattern, the better!)
• Rectangular scrap of fabric at least 1 foot wide and long enough to amply wrap around your waist
• Drawstring
• Elastic (optional, but recommended)

Instructions for How to Make a Skirt Without a Pattern

1. Determine the circumference of your waist, or the place on your body where you want the skirt to rest. You can do this easily with a piece of string. Remove the string from your waist, add 3 inches to this measurement, and then cut the string.
2. Find the center of the round tablecloth by folding it into a half-moon, then folding that in half a second time, and then in half a third time. (See diagram below.) The point of the resulting wedge is the center. Mark it with tailor’s chalk.
   
3. Fold the string you cut in Step 1 in half, then in half a second time, and then in half a third time, just as you did with the tablecloth. Place the folded string over the folded tablecloth, and find the place where the string’s length matches the tablecloth’s width. This will become your waist opening. Mark this line with chalk.
4. Cut along the marked line through all layers of the folded tablecloth. When you open up the tablecloth, you should have a circular hole roughly in the middle. For this sewing project, “roughly in the middle” is close enough for us!
5. Pick up the scrap rectangle of fabric. Measure it with the piece of string, and then add 1 inch. Trim the edges neatly, turn under each short side 1/2-inch, and then secure the fold by sewing it. Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise. This will be your waistband.
   
6. Next is the only tricky part in these instructions for how to make a skirt without a pattern, so be sure to follow the directions closely. Place the skirt circle’s fabric wrong-side-up. Carefully line up the rough edges of the waistband with the rough edges of the tablecloth’s cutout (referring to the diagram again). Be sure to place the waistband inside the skirt, against the fabric’s outer side, usually called the “right side,” rather than against the “wrong side.” Pin everything together, both edges of the waistband against the patterned side of the skirt. Take your time with pinning, because a little care at this step will make all the difference in the finished product. If the skirt opening is bigger than the waistband, you can make some tiny pleats at regular intervals to compensate. Don’t fret too much over the details; the skirt will look fine in the end.
7. Turn the skirt right-side-out and make sure everything is oriented properly. You can even carefully slip it on to make sure it’s big enough. Don’t worry about the skirt being too big, because you haven’t yet added the elastic or drawstring.
8. Add two lines of stitches around the raw edges where the skirt’s waist opening and waistband meet. Start with a single line of straight stitches at least 3/4-inch from the raw edge. Follow up with a second line of zigzag stitches along the raw edge to prevent fraying.
   
9. You’re nearly finished with these instructions on how to make a simple skirt without a pattern! All that’s left to do is add a drawstring through the waistband opening. (I often tie the string onto the clip of a pen and feed it through one end until it comes out the other side). If desired, you can also add a strip of narrow elastic, which I’ve found helps considerably to keep the skirt in place. And with that, you’ve made the easiest skirt in the world — swishy, upcycled, and comfortable to boot.

More No-Pattern Sewing

Learn to transform inexpensive curtains or bedsheets into clothing with this trace-your-own Thai fisherman pants pattern.

Wren Everett is a DIYer and budding seamstress. She and her husband live on an Ozark homestead, where they seek to live as self-sufficiently as possible.

Originally published as part of “Sew Your Own Clothing Sans Patterns” in the May/June 2023 issue of Grit magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.