Maternity Yoga Skirt, with Jennifer of Monkey see Monkey Do

May 1, 2011

Hello! My name is Jennifer and my little blog is called Monkey See, Monkey Do! I really like to do frugal sewing projects. I think sewing can be expensive but I try to find ways to cut costs but still make fun things.

Since I’m expecting my second child (28 weeks in the picture), I’ve started making some maternity clothing. I love skirts and wanted to share this tutorial for making a yoga maternity skirt. Visit my blog for more maternity ideas and other sewing project tutorials.

I posted a yoga skirt tutorial last summer, found here at my blog. The yoga skirt I made last summer had a a full, gathered skirt. I did not hem the bottom. I felt it turned out a little hippie-ish for my style and taste. I wanted to make a flat front version to help boost my maternity wardrobe now and also my summer wardrobe after I have the baby!

(If you like my headband from the picture above and want to make one to spruce up your accessory wardrobe, I have a tutorial on my blog.)

A comfy, snug, yet forgiving waistband… You can wear the waistband rolled or unrolled and the waist should lay flat under your shirt.

Materials:

1 to 1.5 yards of knit fabric containing spandex (3-5% spandex works best)
ball point needle (made for knits)
matching thread
sewing machine (I don’t have a serger, but if you do, use it!)

About my fabric: it is tube-knit fabric. I know it isn’t single-knit because it doesn’t roll onto itself. Other than that, I can’t provide much info about the fabric because it was a purchase I made awhile ago and was sitting in my stash!

Instructions:

1) I cut the skirt pieces to be about 2″ wider than the fullest part of my hips.

2) I then tapered the pieces into an A-line shape using the full width of the fabric for the bottom part of the skirt with my ruler.

3) At this point, I stitched the sides of the skirt together. (I used a stretch stitch for all the seams.)

4) Next, it was time to work on the waistband. I was only able to make mine about 14″ tall. I measured my waist and subtracted 4″. I then sewed it up the sides like a tube and folded it over so that the right sides were out.

5) Then I ran into some problems. I had a waistband that was smaller than the skirt’s circumference. I didn’t want to gather the skirt, but I had to make it match up without gaps in the skirt. So this is what I did:

-Mark the sides and middle of both the skirt and waistband with pins.

-Lined up the pins at each quarter turn around the skirt (sides and middle of the back and front).

-Then I stretched the waistband to meet up with the skirt and pinned. Then I sewed, using a stretch stitch, making sure I evenly stretched the waistband to be evenly distributed around the skirt’s larger circumference.