To make a 1/2 circle wrap skirt, with about a 55" waist and 38" long you will need 3 1/4 yards of 60" material. This is a little more than you need but you will need a little extra for fabric shrinkage when it is washed. Light weight denim, medium weight, woven cotton or linen blends are good for this skirt. Much of this skirt is on the bias which is what gives it the nice flow. It also makes it unsuitable for stiff fabric. The bias could make your hem uneven over time. Bias stretches. You can rehem it or make the skirt up to the hemming point and let it hang for a day or two and then remark and hem.
Wash and iron your fabric.
Cut or tear your fabric so you have a rectangle 60"x112".
Fold this in half, wrong sides together, so you have approximately a square 60"x56".
Iron this, keeping edges even. This will give you a nice crease and matching point for making your skirt.
Open the fabric up and cut or tear a rectangle 4"x 112" off of the bottom. If you do not want to use the selvage, cut or tear 1/2" off of the top and bottom then cut or tear 3" off of the bottom. This is your waistband.
Fold your fabric in half again, right sides together. You should have a square 56"x56". We will start at the upper left corner, going clockwise and label the corners of this square, A, B, C, and D. The fold should be on your right hand side from corner B to corner C.
Tie one end of a string to a sharpened piece of chalk or marker. Then cut the string so that it is 56" long. Anchor one end of the string at corner B (or have a second person hold it in place for you), and then use the chalk or marker end to draw an arc from corner A to corner C. This will be the lower edge of the skirt. Cut 1" off of your string and draw another arc. This needs to be chalk or a removable mark. You will do this on both sides of the skirt. This is for your hem. Cut your string to 18" and draw your last arc. This is for your waistband.
If you are unsure of what the pattern looks like, I suggest you take a piece of notebook paper and make or draw a mock up so you have a visual idea of what you are doing. Besides, it may save you from making any mistakes in your fabric.
Cut out your arcs on the upper arc (18" arc) and lowest arc (56" arc). The 55" arc is simply a mark to help you hem your skirt.
Open up your fabric. You should have a 1/2 circle that has a smaller 1/2 circle opening in the middle.
Fold your waistband (4"x112" rectangle) is half, wrong sides together, and press keeping outside edges even. Fold up 1/2" on outer long edges, wrong sides together, and press. This is to form the seam allowances on the ties and give you a finished edge. Mark and press 1/2", right sides together, on the straight edges of the skirt. If you have removed the selvage edge you will need to fold under an additional 1/2" and press.
Open up your waistband, fold it in half right sides together, and sew a 1/4" or 1/2" seam on the short ends of your waistband. Turn them right side out. This finishes the tie ends. Press.
On the right side of the skirt, topstitch 3/8" from the straight edges of the skirt. This finishes the straight edges (sides) of the wrap skirt.
Open up your waistband. With right sides together, match the middle mark of the waistband with the middle mark of the skirt. Pin. Starting at the middle match the waistband and skirt pinning to the outside edge of the skirt. Sew with a 1/2" seam allowance keeping the edge of the skirt and the edge of the waistband even.
Press the waistband up. You may need to repress the half (long side) waistband line and 1/2 seam allowance lines if they are no longer crisp.
Match the middle mark of the skirt with the middle mark on the folded waistband. The seam allowance of skirt should be sandwiched inside the waistband. Pin. There are so many layers here that it is difficult to pin without causing a large bump. On the wrong side of the skirt, glue baste (with a water soluble glue stick) or pin the lower edge of the waistband/tie in place just covering your previous line of stitching for the right side.
Starting at one end of the ties, on the right side, sew 1/8" from the bottom edge of the tie, over the skirt section, to the opposite edge of the tie, up the short side across the top and down the final short side to complete the topstitching of the tie.
Press up the 1" hem, wrong sides together. Open up the hem and press the lower edge up to meet the previous 1" crease mark. You now have a pressed finished hem.
Topstitch the hem from the right side 3/8" from the lower edge. Press
Try on your skirt. The middle crease of the skirt should be in the middle of your back. Wrap the skirt around to the front and then the ties to the back. Mark with chalk on the inside of the outer layer of the waistband about 2" farther along the waistband from were the under layer is overlapped by the outer layer. Make and cut a large buttonhole on the waistband for the tie of the underlayer to thread threw to the back.
Press and wear your new skirt!
This whole process takes much less time to make than to write. If any of this is not clear please ask and I will try to clarify. If someone would like information on how to make the waist small or larger, I can explain how to get these measurements.
hjm
Below are a couple of links to sites that have information on making circle and half circle skirts. I should warn you that they are for dancing costumes but the resulting skirt is quite modest.
http://optionality.net/pantarei/circleskirt.htmlhttp://www.madamexcostumes.com/newpages/ttcostumes.htmlhttp://www.shira.net/make-cskirt.htm
