Make Two Matching Skirts from Two Yards of Fabric

This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World in 2016. 

My daughter wanted to figure out how to make matching skirts for her and a friend. With just two yards of fabric, you can do this, too! 

 My younger kid loves to make handmade birthday gifts for her friends, and in the lead-up to a recent party, she came up with her most ambitious idea yet: handmade matching skirts for herself and her friend. Skirts can actually be pretty easy to sew, so thankfully this project was less ambitious than some of her handmade gift ideas. And ever since I sewed my first one-seam skirt from that awesome Hobbit fabric, I have known exactly how to do this. 

 With just 2 yards of fabric, you can do this, too. These matching skirts will fit everyone from middle-sized kids (I'd say about eight years old on), to some adults, and if you don't have a ten-year-old helper, then they're both super quick and super easy to make. 

Here's how to make matching skirts!

How to Make Matching Skirts

You will need: 

  2 yards of fabric. Even though I have an embarrassing amount of fabric in my stash, a lot of it in lengths over 2 yards (shame on me!), I nevertheless let my child pick out yet more fabric just for these skirts. At least I used the entire amount to make them, so I wasn't adding to my stash... 

 Pro Tip: If you're sewing only for the eight-to-twelve-year-old set, you could get away with using only 1.5, or even just one, yard of fabric for these skirts. You want a length that's at least double your kid's waist measurement, but if you don't care if the skirt fits her forever, then save your fabric! 

  1/2" elastic to match 2 waist measurements. Since I pretty much am always sewing for some growing girl or another, I always cut my elastic to their exact waist measurement; sewing the elastic together will make it about an inch smaller, which is a little loose, but all the kid is going to do is grow. If you're sewing for an adult, you may want to make your own elastic measurement a little more conservative. 

  needle, thread, cutting tools, etc. You know what you need! 

 1. Iron and cut the fabric. Iron the fabric, then fold it in half lengthwise and iron again to crease the fold. Cut along the crease, and you'll be left with two lengths of fabric that are 2 yards long by approximately 22.5 inches wide. 

  2. Sew the side seam of each skirt. Just as with my one-seam skirt, you now only have to sew that one side seam for each skirt, then hem and add a waistband casing to each. For the ultimate beginner project, you can sew a simple side seam. A French seam, however, is only a little more difficult and is much neater and stronger. That's what we used for these skirts. 

 3. Hem the bottom of each skirt. Fold up the raw bottom edge of each skirt and iron it, then fold up again to encase that raw edge, iron again, and pin and sew. 

 4. Make the waistband casing for each skirt. Again, fold up the raw top edge of each skirt, iron to crease, then fold up again, this time by about 1". Iron to crease, pin, and sew close to that folded edge, leaving a 2" gap open for inserting the waistband. 

 Pro tip: To make my waistbands look neater, I like to sew another line of stitching along the top of the casing as well as the bottom. 

 5. Insert the waistband. Put a safety pin into one end of the elastic, then use that to help you feed the elastic all the way through the waistband. Don't let the tailing end of the elastic escape into the waistband casing, and DON'T twist the elastic! 

  6. Finish the waistband. Overlap the two ends of elastic and sew them together, then sew closed the gap in the waistband. 

 These skirts make lovely matching gifts for sisters, best friends, or mothers and daughters. For extra cutesy fun, buy a couple of plain skirts and stencil something else mitchy-matchy on them!