How to make a A-line skirt without a pattern

I was thinking back and remembered a skirt I made. I might even still have it, but it's in a box..... in storage...... with a friend...... so I'm not sure. But I got to thinking about the process I went through, so I thought I'd share.

Several years ago my ex and I participated in an organization that held Live Action Role Playing, or LARPs every summer. Well, they still do, but I'm not part of the group anymore. It's not an SCA group, it's strictly fantasy role playing. And as part of the game one wore costumes. 

The first year my ex and I participated a friend who made my wedding gown made me a bodice based on the bodice of my gown. I just needed to come up with a skirt. I managed to find a nice bit of cotton in a white and pink thin stripe. Problem was, I had no decent skirt patterns.

As I was contemplating what to do, my mum-in-law suggested cutting the fabric diagonally to get the flare I'd need to go over my hips. So I sat down at my cutting table and tried to work it out. I knew she was on the right track but I only had one shot at getting it right so this was going to take a good long think. This skirt needed to be long, and it needed to go over my hips and fit my waist. So I took some measurements. I took my waist to floor measurement, then my waist and hips measurements.

I'll demonstrate using a bit of paper. And remember that all this is being done on fabric that has been folded in half lengthwise.

First measure the length of the fabric and mark the waist-to-floor measurement plus about 5 inches to accommodate a hem, truing up the hem and waist lines, and either a seam for a waistband or a casing for elastic.

 Then cut off the extra fabric. That extra fabric can be used for a waistband if so desired.

 

 Now to actually shape the skirt. I divided both my waist and hip measurements by 4. Then measuring from the fold at one end I marked the waist measurement calculation. From that mark I measured the distance down from my waist to my hips and then marked my hip measurement calculation. I repeated the steps along the selvage edge at the other end of the fabric. The marks should be diagonally at opposite ends of the fabric. It's kind of hard to see the marks I made on the paper so I circled them. I probably should have used a marker instead of just a ballpoint pen so you could see them better.


I then folded the fabric in half diagonally from the waist marks making sure the hip marking was inside the width of the narrow end of each fabric triangle. You can sort of see the one hip mark to the left of the dark smudge on on the narrow end of the fold. As you can see it is on the narrow side of the fold, so all is good.

TThen I cut along the fold. In order to keep the fold properly aligned I pinned the fabric down to itself to be sure it didn't shift while I was cutting. I didn't think to show that on the demonstration paper.

So this is what the fabric should look like after cutting. One side is two layers of fabric with the selvage edge, the other side is one piece on the fold.

Now to shape the waist. First, I just folded each fabric triangle in half lengthwise.




Second, I trimmed the top at an angle to the two long edges. The amount trimmed off  depends on whether or not you plan to make a casing for elastic or if you are planing to have a waistband with a zip. And if you plan to have an elastic waist the the opening needs to be larger that your waist to accommodate going around other larger body parts.

To shape the hemline I did the same thing.
If you're worried about the straight lines, don't be. The fullness will disguise them all.

This is what the single pieces will look like after they've been trimmed. You'll end up with 3 skirt pieces, a front and 2 back.











Remember earlier I mentioned that the fabric I had was a stripe? Well I had decided that I wanted the stripes to form a chevron at the front and back seam. So I took the skirt piece that had been cut on the fold and cut it down the fold making it 2 pieces. And because it was a small enough stripe it didn't matter if I was off a bit when I stitched up the seams. The chevron was pointed up and it made me look a bit thinner.

Now you have a basic A-line skirt. If you want you can add pockets. You could either side seam or patch pocket. And you can make the as long or as short as you need it to be. And you did it all without the need of a pattern.