Sewing My First Circle Skirt, Breaking in a New Machine

The almost disaster turned my favorite DIY project yet!

Close up of the plaid flannel used to make my first circle skirt

In my previous post, I took readers through what was the Saga of the Sewing Machine. Well, my new Husqvarna Viking Jade 20 has arrived and she is a beaut. And she’s a workhorse. While I am truly bummed that Grandma’s machine didn’t work out, I am pretty stoked about this new sewing machine. In this post, I’m sharing my first project – My first circle skirt!

Why a circle skirt for my first machine sewn project?

When I first set up the machine, reading the instructions and watching YouTube videos, I was really excited. I had a feeling that I was going to want to jump right into a project and skip practicing to get to know the machine. So, I made a compromise. I ran a scrap piece of fabric through the machine a few times, selecting a few different stitches. And then I was off to the races.

Before I even got my paws on this machine, I had purchased this beautiful plaid flannel at Joann Fabrics. I had also researched various projects and decided that my first project would be simple but also useful. Busy work for the sake of practice and learning never sat well with me. Instead, I like to learn by doing. Pinterest (my go to for new projects of all kinds) yielded many great results.

After choosing a circle skirt, I went with this tutorial.

Nora Jane has offered a simple tutorial that I thought I could follow along with complete with pictures and written instructions. All the while I also ordered a few patterns which I cannot wait to try after this one.

Alas, Math

The only problem with choosing to make my first circle skirt as my first project here, was that rather than follow a pattern, you do a bit of math. Well, in my family, a term has developed…”Maggie Math” is used when something doesn’t add up, things don’t turn out, you run out of what you need etc. It sounds mean but it is actually true. While I didn’t find out until a teacher discovered it in High School, I’m dyslexic. Numbers (and therefore math) make me cry.

I gave it the good old college try. After washing and drying my flannel, I laid it out on the basement carpet. With a sharpie and my tape ruler I marked along the fabric the bottom of the skirt. This didn’t require math as I wanted this skirt to be as long as the fabric would allow. Then it was time for the dreaded equation.

The first part of the equation is finding out your circumference which is your waist plus four inches (this tutorial has a button front which I later opted out of).

Then, you take that number, and divide it by 6.28 (two times pie). I thought I had it down. But After measuring and cutting, and trying the skirt out on my body…I either gained a ton of weight in the two weeks it took to get the sewing machine and make the skirt, or Maggie Math.

I’m leaning towards Maggie Math.

Saving My First Circle Skirt

While I wasn’t off to a great start, it was an easy fix. All I had to do was cut a bit more off of the top and it made the waist wide enough. I actually made it a bit too wide, but for now I’m happy.

I stitched the hem of my first circle skirt by hand waiting for my sewing machine.

During the saga of the sewing machine, I hand stitched the hem of the skirt. It looks awesome because you don’t see the actual hem but it hangs lovely. I now know that you can achieve this with a blind hem stitch on a machine but it was great practice.

Then I remeasured my waist and added four inches. Then I cut out a waist band. For this my first project, I decided not to do anything fancy with facing or anything. I simply folded it in half, basted it, and then attached it (not perfectly) to the skirt. It wasn’t perfect but it’ll do. That seems to be the theme of this first circle skirt.

Finishing My First Circle Skirt

After I had everything together, we took a trip out to JoAnn’s for a matching zipper and a stroll around some place that wasn’t out house. Because Covid. By now, I had ordered these fantastic little clips to use instead of pins. By now I was having a blast. I used these clips to hold the skirt in place and find where I needed to sew the sides together.

When it all came together, it was so awesome. The waist of the skirt of a bit big but with two hooks and eyes it sits really nicely and has room to tuck in a shirt or the front of a sweater.