Full Circle skirt pattern {& free sewing tutorial)

I just love the flowing lines of a circle skirt. They look good on most girls with their full folds of fabric and and neat silhouette near the waist and hips. They have the required fullness of a gathered skirt without any of its bulk at the top. So, what I mean is, do not hesitate to make one – it is easy to make and nice to wear. Win win.

Related post: If you are not sure about whether a circle skirt would suit you or not, you can check out this post on Choose a skirt design suited to your height and figure and then proceed.

The real circle skirt is a full one piece doughnut shaped fabric shaped into a full-skirt. That is the skirt I am going to make here.

There is one limitation to making this skirt – if you want a long skirt you will have to join extra fabric. This is because, the circle you make is limited by the width of the fabric piece you have (which is usually 45 inches or 60 inches). With a 45 inch wide fabric piece, you can get an 18 inch long circle skirt which sits above the knee. Many would call it a short length skirt, depending on their fashion sensibilities and length preferences.

Related post : Circle skirt formula calculator.

Free sewing pattern for Circle skirt

Step 1. Measure and decide on the cutting of the fabric

Measurement needed for making this skirt:

Waist round and Skirt length (with normal width fabrics (45″) you are limited to 18 inch or lower length skirts)

Fabric for your circle skirt :

Choose a lightweight to medium-weight fabric like cotton, satin, or tulle.

Calculating how much to cut for the circle shape

Formula for circumference + 2πr.

Here, the waist measurement is the circumference.

so waist round ( waist round on the body plus 2 inches extra) = 2πr.

You have to isolate the r (radius) now from this.

So for a body waist of 25 inches. Waist round =25+2 =27

27 =2πr

27/6.28 = r

So, r = 4.30

Fold the fabric for cutting

Step 2. Cut out a 45 inch square fabric from your fabric. (If you have a 60 inch wide fabric, cut a 60 inch fabric square and now you will get a longer skirt)

Fold the fabric once by the middle. Now, again fold the fabric by the middle. You get the fabric into 4 layers, like this.

Mark the measurement you got as r ( in this case 4.3 inches) from the corner. Mark up 1/2 inches up from this. This is the cutting line. (red line c in the picture above)

Mark the length of the skirt from the radius. Cut it out.

When you open the fabric it will look like this

Step 3. Cut open the circle

Now, you need to add an opening. For this, you have to cut open the circle shape.

It will look like this.

Step 4. Cut waistband fabric

Cut a 4.5 inch wide fabric which equals the waist round plus 1 inch in length.

Step 5. Sew the side seams now.

You have to sew the opening you have just now cut open – just leave a 4 or 5 inch opening at the top

Step 6. Sew the waistband to the top edge of the skirt

Step 7. Sew the zipper

Keep one edge of the zipper face down. With a hand sewing needle and thread sew the zipper edge in place.

Baste stitch the zipper to the other edge of the opening too. Curve the top edge of the zipper to the outside as in the picture.

Use a zipper foot (preferably an invisible zipper foot) to sew the zipper in place.

Close the zipper and see that everything is aligned.

Step 8. Sew the waistband

Fold the waistband top edge to the back from the top of the zipper. Fold the edge at the back over the waistband seam allowance( ie tuck the edges to the inside). Baste stitch everything in place. (This stitching is optional but highly recommended if you want the front to look nice)

Stay stitch the waistband from the top.