The Circle of Skirts

Somehow, in the last several years, I’ve only made one circle skirt. Its a simple gray chambray, high-waisted with belt loops. In warm seasons, I wear it at least once a week. It works great with tucked shirts and cropped sweaters. I love this skirt so much, it’s well past time to make another…er…two anothers.

My original skirt pattern is only a 3/4 circle, how sad. Just kidding, I really love this skirt. Paired with a leather belt and a tucked button-down, it’s just lovely and still remains only moderately girly. As much as I love dresses and skirts, I don’t like them to be hyper feminine. It doesn’t suit me and clashes with my Docs.

But the allure of a full circle skirt calls to me, haunting my dreams. They’re so pretty; I knew I would love one but goodness do they use up fabric! The sweep of a full circle skirt makes it impossible to cut from narrow fabric without altering the design.

I finally drafted a full circle skirt pattern from scratch, not caring if I had fabric wide enough for one (spoiler alert: I did). It’s a super simple drafting process. The hardest part is the mathematical equation for your waist diameter, which is basic algebra at best. Once you have your length and diameter, it’s quite simple and even fun.

Best practice is to use a compass to draw your circular lines but if you don’t have that or, in my case, can’t find yours, you can improvise with a bit of string and a pin.

My skirt is drafted for a 26″ waist, with 1.5″ of ease. The length is 27″, which hits at knee length once hemmed. I added .5″ seam allowances to the side and back seams.

▲ Hot Tip ▲

I recently learned you should raise the center front of the skirt by 1/4″ to prevent it from gathering there. This an issue with my favorite skirt, so I made the adjustment on my original pattern as well as the new full skirt pattern. It’s such a small adjustment but it really made a difference! The front is doesn’t get tangled up when I walk!

Both skirts have bound seams and invisible zippers. I put a lapped zipper in the 3/4 skirt at first but ripped it out and replaced it after seeing how much nicer the full skirt looks with an invisible one.

I’ve resolved not to use lapped zippers anymore. Once you get the hang of an invisible one, it’s much easier to install and looks super neat. You don’t need an invisible zipper foot, either, I use my regular zipper foot with no issues.

Oh, how could I forget? In-seam pockets for both skirts!

▲ 3/4 skirt ▲

This fabric, a light Robert Kaufman chambray, is peach with gold accents. It’s chic and so pretty. The color, gorgeous at it is, would make me look terrible if worn close to my face but as a bottom fabric it’s perfect. It also looks so cute with my Ondée sweater! I actually made the Ondée with this outfit in mind.

▲ Full Circle Skirt▲

This sweet baby is made from 100% linen. Its rich ‘blackberry’ hue is one of my new favorite colors! I have a little silk scarf I made which is actually called Blackberry, so the name is sticking with me, but I think this linen is technically referred to as ‘plum’. It happens to be 60″ wide, plenty of room for the full circle skirt.

The added sweep of this hem is divine – there’s so much of it! It drapes, flows, and twirls effortlessly. It came out just a little too big, so I plan on taking it in via the back seam and re-doing the zipper.