Easy Gored Skirt Tutorial

I thought I'd make my daughter a gored skirt, too, just based on measurements -- and it worked!  So, here's a tutorial.  It's probably not perfect, so feel free to leave any helpful comments if you give it a try.

For your fabric width:
1.  Measure around your hips (widest point around your bum -- your skirt needs to fit over this widest point) =  _____"
2.  Add 2"for give = _____"
3.  Add an inch for each seam (# of main panels, in my case 6") = _____"  (I ended up doing 1/2" approx. seams, so that really only adds 3" extra in addition to my extra 2" for a total of 5" wider than the hips.  This left a good amount of wiggle room, but not too much.)

**So, for my daughter's skirt, I took her waist measurement of 25", added 2", then added 6".  This gave me a width of 33".

For your skirt length:
4.  Measure from your waist to however long you want your skirt to land = _____"
5.  Add 1.25" for the waistband = _____"
6.  Add 3/4" for the hem = _____"

7.  Cut out your skirt fabric according to the above width and length.

8.  It's easiest if you are doing an even number of panels in your skirt.  You could divide the width by the number of desired panels and measure them out and cut them, but I just folded my fabric in half and then thirds and then cut it down the folds to get my 6 panels.

 9.  Next, I cut some long triangles to fit between the panels.  I didn't do any magic math or anything, just hoped it would work.  The width at the bottom of the triangle is just a bit smaller than than the width of the rectangles.  I think, though, I did try to get the triangles to end right up about the height of the pubic bone.

10.  Now, sew in the triangles.  Just place a triangle and a rectangle, right sides together, sew, then zig zag (or surge it together if you have one!).  Then, place a second rectangle over the combined triangle/rectangle piece and sew that together the same way, but securing all the way to the top of the rectangles.  It's a little tricky lining up that second rectangle piece as to not let the tip of the triangle poke through wrong.  You may have to pick out a time or two before you get used to it.  Continue piecing together all the way around.

11.  I realized that my skirt was going to end up a little short, so I added enough fabric at the top for the waistband casing and a couple more inches.  To make the casing for your elastic, either fold the fabric under 1/4" and then another 1 1/16" (or just a little bigger than the width of your elastic) or zigzag your edge then fold it down and stich all the way around a little wider than the width of your elastic leaving an opening to feed your elastic through with a safety pin.

12.  Feed your elastic through using a safety pin.  I like to cut my elastic an inch or two smaller than the waist size. I  used Wal-Mart elastic, so it is kind of stretchy, so 23" for the elastic seemed good.  Stich the waistband casing closed.

13.  Hem the bottom of the skirt.  I just folded the bottom under approximately 1/4" and then again 1/2" and stitched.

14.  Let your little girl wear it with something that doesn't really match!