Hello Fellow Crafties!

I hope you all have had a nice weekend! This week I’m sharing a fun project that I worked on with my biggest little – a Star Wars themed skirt!

Before the new Star Wars : The Force Awakens movie came out last year, we started introducing our 6 year old to the Star Wars movies, and she quickly became a HUGE fan. Once we saw the new one, Leia (and particularly Rey) took over as her favorite female characters (buh-bye Elsa!). Surprisingly though, there seems to be quite a lack of girl’s gear with Rey on it. I promised my little that should we ever come across fabric with Rey on it, I would make her something out of it.

Last weekend her and I decided to have a girly day and we ventured out for milkshakes and a trip to the fabric store. As soon as we spotted the new Star Wars fabrics at Jo-Ann’s, my little made a beeline for them and found her favorite.

She decided that she wanted a skirt to wear, so we came up with this fun little number, complete with 2 tiers to make it a bit more girly and an elastic waist since she’s overdue for a growth spurt:

Also, this project was a great opportunity for me to finally figure out how to use the serger my hubs got me for xmas. (P.S. this may have taken a few tries – yikes!)

We were excited with how fun it came out and I’ve included step-by-step directions below so that you can make your very own!

star wars girl’s skirt

materials needed:

(Please note: I am basing this off the measurements for my little, who is a girls size 6. Be sure to measure your little and adjust the materials necessary as necessary to scale it up or down.)

1 yard of your favorite Star Wars fabric (or any fabric will do here).
1-inch wide non-roll elastic

you will also need:

Sewing Machine
Serger (or your favorite edge finishing technique)
Coordinating Thread
Scissors
Iron

step 1

This is kind of pre-step 1 but before starting, wash and dry your fabric to prevent your finished piece from shrinking and losing its shape. I also like to give mine a good ironing to make the finished piece look polished.

Once you’ve done this, cut your fabric using the follow diagram:

(Spoiler: Basically, you are going to be cutting out 2 rectangles.)

Width: For the width of each of the rectangles, I recommend taking your child’s waist size and multiple that by 2. Or if you’re like me and you’re working with fabric that is slightly less wide than this (my fabric was 45 inches wide and my measurement was 48 inches, just go with the width of the fabric. It being exactly 2x the waist isn’t required.

Length: Since there are 2 tiers, first measure how long you’d like the bottom (longer) tier to be on your kiddo. Add a 1/2 inch for a Seam Allowance on the bottom (the top will be wrapped by the top tier so does not need an SA). For example, on my kiddo we ended up with a 12 and 1/2 inch tier.

Next, take this measurement and subtract 1 inch. This will give you the height of your top (shorter) tier. This tier actually ends up being 3 inches different once the skirt is completely done because 1.5 inches gets folded over at the top for the waistband/elastic casing and another 1/2 inch is taken up by a hem on the bottom of the tier. This one for me ended up being 11 and 1/2 inches.

step 2

Serge both the top and bottom of the long sides of your fabric pieces. If you do not have a serger, finish with a zig-zag stitch or trim the edges with pinking shears to prevent fraying.

step 3

Fold over the bottom edge of your shorter/top tier by 1/2 inch and press, then sew. Trust me, it’s way easier to do this now than when the skirt tiers are sewn together. Leave the bottom tier for now, we will hem this last.

step 4

Fold each of the two tiers with the short edges and right sides together, pin and serge (or sew using a 1/2 inch SA). Press your seams open.

You should now have 2 tubes.

step 5

Now this is where it gets a bit tricky. Basically, you are going to create a casing using your shorter/top tier. This casing will hold the elastic, as well as 1/2 inch top portion of your longer tier.

To do this, insert your shorter tier into your larger tier and pull the bottom/longer tier up until you have 2 and 1/2 inches of the shorter tier sticking out of the top (figure a). Then fold over the shorter tier by 1 and 1/2 inches and press, giving you a 1 inch tube for the elastic and a 1/2 inch to sandwich the longer tier into like the following diagram (figure b) and photo shows:

Pin and stitch this sandwich fun, leaving about 3 inches unstitched to insert your elastic.

step 6

Cut your elastic to be the measurement of your child’s waist + 1 inch. Using your favorite method of making elastic go through a tube of fabric, add the elastic to the casing you made in step 5, being sure not to twist your elastic in the process.

Sew your elastic using a ~~messy~~ zig-zag stitch and sew shut the remaining 3 inches of the casing.

step 7

Home stretch now! Finally, try your skirt on your model to check length and then hem that bottom tier using a 1/2 inch SA. Turn right side out and give it one last good pressing to get rid of any wrinkles.

And voilà! There you have it! Adorable Star Wars skirt for your Jedi loving lady (and if your kid loves the dark side, shame on you, time for Jedi Academy)!

If you decide to make one of these, please Instagram it and tag #iheartcrafttimeblog so we can see your creations!

Thanks and may the force be with you!