Fashion-DIY African Maxi Skirt

I made this African print maxi skirt for a Black History Festival I attended to lead a Story Time event with my children’s book. I chose this particular fabric because I wanted something blue and loved the geometric shape. I used 2 yards of fabric and blue string, and chose to make this an A-line that ruffles at the waist because I thought it was an elegant look and SO EASY to make.

The skirt closes in the back with a large bow and zipper. The good part about using a bow is that it can fit a wide range of waist sizes. The down side about using a bow, is that the bottom of the skirt is a little bit higher in the back because I had to tie it pretty tight for my waist size. What I would have done differently is add some elastic in the waist so that one size may fit most without too much gathering in the back.

I mentioned just how easy it was to sew this skirt, because I only needed to cut out TWO pieces of fabric to make it. One was for the skirt and the other for the belt/bow.  The first step was to take in the hem you see at the bottom.

After taking in the hem I ruffled the waist. It took me a couple tries, but I soon had ruffled the entire waist in about 10 minutes. The key to the process was to set my sewing machine on a wide stitch so that it would be easy to pull through the fabric. It also helped to leave plenty of string on EACH end of the skirt for the ruffling process.

Once I sewed a wide stitch across the waist I pulled on each of the strings (there is one on each side of the fabric) to see which one was loose. I found the loose string and started to slowly pull the fabric away from the end of the string and towards the middle of the skirt. I did this on both sides until I ended up with a ruffled waist.

      

One of the last steps was to attached the belt/bow. I simply cut out a piece of fabric that was about 4-5 inches wide and about 4-5 feet long, depending on your preference. I stitched along the edges to make what looked like a belt. I took my “belt” and attached it to my skirt with one easy stitch. I also ended up adding a zipper in the back to give myself more room to step into the skirt. If I had used elastic in the waist like I mentioned previously that wouldn’t have been necessary.

The very last step was a high slit. After trying on the skirt, I marked how high I wanted the slit with white chalk, cut along the chalk line, and stitched along each side of the slit. Once this was done I hopped right into my new skirt!