20 minute skirt {simple skirt switch up}

In the summer time I pretty much live in skirts and dresses.  They are so comfy and easy to wear.  Plus, I think my two year old appreciates me wearing a readily available napkin and towel for her to use...

The other day I made myself a "simple skirt" made even simpler...if that's possible. 

Instead of the normal "rolled" top elastic casing, I used four inch wide elastic {my theory is that the wide elastic helps to hide the tummy courtesy of my four children...I could be wrong}.

First, I made the simple skirt, omitting the top elastic waist casing part...if you don't know how to make one there are thousands of tutorials available by Googling "simple skirt tutorial".

For my waist band, I figured out how much of my wide elastic I would need...there are recommendations all across the board on how to measure your elastic.  I chose to cut the length to my waist measurement exactly and take my seam allowance out of it.  {I tried to add an inch originally, but it was too big and I didn't like how it fit.}

Sew the two ends of your elastic together, using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, very well {I go over mine a few times}.  

Then, open up your elastic seam, and sew the ends {seam allowance} down and trim.

Next, where you would normally do your elastic waist casing, I sewed a "gathering stitch" one half of an inch in from the top {in a contrasting thread}.

I gathered my skirt up a bit {but not all the way} to fit the elastic band.  Then I pinned the skirt to the elastic.

*The contrasting gathering stitch helps with the above step...I use it as a guide for where I should have the edge of my elastic.

I pinned the right side {visible side} of my elastic band to the right side {visible side} of my skirt.  When done you flip the elastic waist band "up" and your seam gets "hidden" inside your skirt along with your stitching since it can get a little "funky" looking when stretching the elastic and sewing.

Select a zig-zag stitch to attach your skirt to the waist band.

You will stretch the elastic to meet up with the "extra" fabric that wasn't gathered in when you sew.  You need your waist band to be able to stretch to put it on.  In the above picture my elastic band is on the bottom, and this is the "wrong" side {inside} of my skirt.

When you're done sewing around the waist band, "flip" the band up and your skirt is done!

My skirt took 20 minutes from start {cutting} to finish!

Thanks for stopping by!  
-R.