During one of my recent YouTube scrolling sessions I came across Mimi G’s Sequin Maxi Skirt Tutorial from 2013 and thought I would give it a go. This was actually before Christmas and I was planning on making a sequin skirt to wear at Christmas and New Year. But the best made plans and all that……I didn’t actually get it done until January but I really love the simplicity of the design, how quick and easy it was to draft and make and how comfortable they are to wear. I actually loved it so much that I made three!
Mimi starts by talking you through the tools and supplies that you will need and also gives her top tips for sewing with sequins which is great as you can apply these to any other pattern you are sewing with sequins in the future.
In terms of the drafting it is really straight forward and actually a great introduction to drafting your own sewing patterns.
You only need three measurements (Waist – Waist to hem – Hips). Mimi’s skirt was a maxi but I prefer something a bit shorter, so in order to get the waist to hem measurements that I wanted, I took one of my existing skirts and measured that top to bottom and then used that as my waist to hem measurement for this pattern. There was some very simple maths involved to calculate the structure of the pattern and it was very quick to draft out. One pattern piece which is your front and back skirt. Mimi gives an option to add a flare to your skirt but I just went with a straight version as I think that’s more flattering for my figure.
The video talks you through the cutting out stage and then also gives clear instructions on sewing the skirt up, including what seam allowance to use, how to attach the elastic waistband and also how to finish the hem.
I used some black and white elastics that I had in my stash but if I were to make any more of these skirts, I would buy some pretty coloured elastic which matches the fabric that I use. The elastic is sewn right sides together with the top of the skirt and then flipped to the inside when you are wearing it. The seam allowance that you use will determine the amount of elastic that is visible when you have the skirt on.
The video is based on using sequin fabric but you could use any fabric as long as it has quite a bit of stretch to it. The tutorial talks you through including a lining for your skirt but if you use a thicker fabric, lining isn’t necessary which makes it an even quicker project. I would say that you could whip one of these skirts up in less than an hour even with a lining!
I used some rose gold sequin fabric from Hobby Craft for my first version with a pink Ponte
Roma type lining. For this one, the lining peaked out the bottom for some reason, even though I cut them exactly the same length, so I cut two centimetres off the bottom of the lining so that it hangs nicely above the outer sequin fabric. For my second version I used up a small piece of very stretchy lace that I had left in my fabric collection and lined that with a red polyester fabric. The final one I made was from some gorgeous scuba that I bought from the Home - The Knitting & Stitching Show (theknittingandstitchingshow.com) in Harrogate a few years back. This fabric was thick enough to use on its own, so no lining was needed. This fabric does have a nap, so I just had to make sure that I cut out my skirt pieces with the nap running downwards.
All in all this is a great tutorial and I would definitely recommend it for a beginner dressmaker. Its only 26 minutes long but is packed full of tips on making yourself a lovely skirt to add to your wardrobe and also advice that you can go on to use in other dressmaking projects in the future.
If you’d like to have a go yourself, the actual video is called ‘Mimi G for Michael Levine: Sequin Maxi Skirt Tutorial!!’ so just search for that on YouTube.
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