Tutorial: 10 minute Dancing Skirt

This quick and easy DIY dancing skirt has been a long standing “hit” in our family.  It’s a perfect skirt for the dress up box, a dance concert, or a last-minute gift for a little girl.

Supplies (measurements are for a size 6 skirt):

1 yard of Swimsuit Lycra or Stretch Velvet. The weight and drape of these two fabrics make them ideal for this dancing skirt.  For a bigger size you will need more fabric.  Lycra usually comes 60″ wide so you could make a skirt long enough for an adult.

1 1/2 yards of coordinating 5/8″ foldover elastic – This is often used for baby headbands & can be found in the supplies section of Etsy if you’re local fabric shop doesn’t carry it.  I like to use this for the waistband because it looks and ties like ribbon, but the stretch helps the skirt stay up.

Cut your fabric into a 36″ square. Don’t worry about hemming the edge, this is a 10-minute dancing skirt! Lycra knits hold up great without an edge finish. Find the center of your fabric and cut a 5″ diameter circle in the middle.  One way to do it is to fold your skirt in 1/2 and then in 1/2 again.  Now measure in 2 1/2″ from the center corner of your folded square,  cutting a 1/4 circle with a 2 1/2″ radius. Now cut a 3″ slit down the back.

If you are making this in a larger or smaller size, just remember that the hole you cut for the waist should be A LOT smaller than the child’s actual waist measurement.  The stretchy fabric has A LOT of give to it.  Start small, you can always cut bigger.

Leaving 18″ as a tie, overlap elastic about 1/4″ onto top edge of waist (wrong side of elastic facing the right side of skirt).  Sew the fold over elastic FLAT on top of the waist using a zig zag stitch (you do not need to fold it over the edge).   The zig zag stitch will allow the entire waist to stretch.  Leave 18″ tie on the opposite end.

Tie the skirt on your little dancer and turn up the music!