DIY Chiffon Maxi Skirt

These skirts are all over the blogging scene at the moment, and they’re great for formal or streetstyle wear. They’re great toughened up with biker boots, or for elegant evenings with heels. Really versatile and really wearable…. a great buy!

However, we Paupers don’t simply pop down to TopShop to spend £36 on this chiffon maxi skirt. We much prefer to make one! Here is the fabulous Cathi giving us a Pin-spired tutorial…. can’t wait to try this myself.

You need to find one chiffon-esque material for the outside skirt, another material for the inside skirt and some elastic. I’ve gone for a more silky type for the inside skirt, as I prefer the way it looks better through the chiffon.First, start on your inside skirt. I’m a bit of a lazy person, so I just wrapped the material around myself with extra room for hemming down the side (about 2cm) and cut the length about where I wanted it with extra room for hemming and space for the elastic. If you’re not a practised clothes maker then I would suggest measuring yourself. However, you want one wide piece and don’t worry about cinching for your waist, as the elastic will do that for you! Once you’ve cut out the piece, hem up the bottom by folding over 1cm and then 1cm again so you have a folded edge showing, not your cut edge.

You can measure out your outside skirt. I did this by laying the inner skirt ontop and then just measuring out how much length I wanted. Once again, remember elastic and hemming space. Also think about what you want to wear it with, I love to wear massive heels – especially with this kind of skirt – so I’ve also added on some extra inches so it doesn’t hang high!

Hem the bottom of your outside skirt and then it’s time to hem the top of them together! Be careful when pinning this as the chiffon can be a bit tricky to keep in place. Also ensure that all the hems are going to be on the inside when you’re sewing the two pieces together. If you’re worried, then once you’ve pinned it, hold it up around you to make sure.

This part is quite confusing, but essential to not mess up! I found it easier to sew the side of the outside skirt first, but if you want to sew the inside first then just do the opposite to these instructions. Make sure once again that hems are going to be on the inside, so keep the inside skirt the right way and turn the outside one inside out. Then pin down the side and sew.

Now turn the outside skirt the right way around, and turn the inside skirt inside out and repeat.

So now you have the basic skirt! Yay! Turn them both inside out and fold over the top of the skirt with enough room to fit the elastic into and sew up, ensuring that you don’t sew all the way round as you need a gap to put your elastic into!

Slide the elastic through – I find this easier if you attach a big safety pin to the end and use that to pull it through. Then sew the twos side of the elastic together and sew up the hole that you left before….and voilà! Wack on a vest top and belt and you’ve got a super cheap but formal outfit!