Pleated Skirt Tutorial - How to Make Your Own Pleated Skirt

Making your own pleated skirt

Making your own skirt is a great way to practice some simple but essential sewing techniques. You can use a great range of fabrics and easily create a new addition to your wardrobe, this project should take between 1 – 2 hours depending on how precise you like to be with your pleats!

You will need:

-          - Fabric – see sizes below

-          - Matching thread

-          - Pins

-          - Fabric marker or pencil

-          - Ruler or measuring tape

-          - Iron & ironing board

Step 1 – Measure & cut your fabric

Step 2 – Make your pleats

Step 3 – Sew your side seam

Step 4 – Sew your waistband

Step 5 – Sew your hem

Step 1 – Measure & Cut Your Fabric

Start with your chosen fabric, you will need a fabric that is strong enough to hold pleats and give a nice, neat finish when pressed. I am using a very strong, slightly stretchy polyester fabric with a beautiful bold flower print.

Jersey, Scuba or Stretch Fabrics are available in great colours and prints and offer a lovely soft finish. Jersey does not press as well as cotton so the pleats will not be 'sharp' but the stretch of the fabric can give a nice structure as it naturally 'bounces back'. Items made with stretch fabrics will have more give to them and this will need to be taken into account when measuring waistbands, etc. It is very important to use your stretch fabric with the stretch running along the width of the fabric (from side to side) and not running the length of the fabric (from top to bottom) as this will make your skirt stretch along the waistband rather than dragging down the hemline with the weight of the fabric!

My fabric is 62” wide which means that a single piece will be long enough to cover my waist, the pleats, and give a generous seam allowance. As the fabric is a little stretchy I can make the skirt without a zip. If your fabric is not stretchy you can either insert a zip opening or use elastic in your waistband.

If your fabric is not wide enough to cover your waist and to give you enough pleats then you will need to make the skirt from two sections, i.e. cut two lengths of fabric and sew them together to create a piece double the width of your fabric. This method will give you two side seams so you must make sure that the seams are directly opposite each other, one on each hip.

Measure your waist at its narrowest point (usually around your naval), make a note of this. From your waist measure down to the point where you would like your skirt to end, I have chosen to make a knee length skirt. Add 1” to the bottom on your fabric length for the hem and ½” to the top to attach to the waistband.

NB: measuring your own skirt length might be tricky as it requires you to bend down! You can ask a friend to help or use an existing skirt that you are happy with the length of as a guide.

Take your waist measurement and add 2” (2.5cm), this gives us our seam allowances and a little extra room around the waist.

To calculate the width and number of your pleats calculate as follows:

(Fabric width – waist measurement + 2”) ÷ 2 = number of pleats

(62” – 32” + 2”) ÷ 2 = 16 pleats

Step 2 – Make Your Pleats

Lay your fabric out pattern side facing up. Make your pleats at even spacings along the width of your fabric by folding the fabric under by one inch and pinning it in place. 

Once all pleats are pinned press the fabric to set the pleats. Sew a line of stitching along the top edge of the fabric to secure the pleats.

When making the pleats you can use a ruler or make a template using a piece of card. This will keep your pleats consistent all the way around your skirt.

Step 3 – Sew Your Side Seam

Once your pleats are in place you are ready to join your skirt at the side seam. Make sure to place your pleats so that the side seam will be hidden in a fold.

Step 4 – Sew Your Waistband

Once your side seam has been joined you can make and attach your waistband. Cut a piece of fabric the width of your waist + 1” for seam allowance, make the piece double the desired height of your waistband plus 1” for seam allowance. 

Sew the short ends of your waistband together to make a loop. Fold the waistband in half length-ways to double the thickness. With right sides together pin the open edge of the waistband to the waist of the skirt. 

Sew along the edges of the fabric with a closing stitch or over locker to keep the edges from fraying.

If you are using a fabric with no stretch you will need to add a zip opening to the waist band or make the waistband larger and thread this with elastic to make a stretchy waistband.

Step 5 – Sew Your Hem

Once your waistband is in place you can hem your skirt. Turn the edge of the fabric over by ½” and press, turn this edge over by another ½” and press. Sew this hem in place with a straight line of stitching as close to the folded edge as possible.

Your skirt is now complete! Press your pleats, the seams, and hemline to give a neat finish.

Some extra ideas to try…

Length – you can use this method to make a skirt of any length but when making a longer skirt make sure that you have enough fabric to allow you to walk! If your skirt is not wide enough you can add a slit in the skirt to give you more room.  

Waistband – try a simple wide elastic waistband to give a fast and very simple stretchy waist in a contrasting colour.

Hemline – a lighter fabric can be spoiled using a folded hemline, for thin fabrics try using a rolled hem, this will give a very small hem and a soft fluted effect.

Vary your pleats – these knife pleats are one inch wide. You can try using larger pleats, make the pleats closer together or further apart. You can use box pleats to give a more structured shape.

Pattern matching – if your fabric has a repeating pattern you might want to match this pattern across your pleats and your seams. Pattern matching will often use significantly more fabric as you create pleats wide enough to use a whole pattern repeat. This is only really possible using a fabric with a small pattern repeat, i.e. 1” – 3”.