Miette: Join the Skirt

Making the Miette skirt? Let's get these flat pieces of fabric looking more like a skirt. Catching up? Order the Miette sewing pattern and check out the previous steps.

Unless stated otherwise, all seams are sewn with a 15mm (5/8in) seam allowance - line up the raw edges of the fabric with the 15 or 5/8 seam guide on your sewing machine to sew at an even distance from the edge.

You should have four skirt pieces – two front skirt and two back skirt pieces.

Staystitch the top edges of the four skirt pieces - this will help prevent the curved edges from stretching out. All you need to do is sew a line of stitching 10mm (3/8in) from the waistline edge on each skirt piece.

Place the front skirt pieces so the right sides - the sides you want to show on the outside of your skirt - are facing each other, matching notches, and pin along the centre front seam (the seam that’s totally straight). If you've added pockets, double check their bottom edges are matching up at the same level.



Stitch the centre front seam, 15mm (5/8in) from the pinned edges. Open out the fold. That's your front skirt!

Place the back skirt pieces on top of the front skirt so the right sides are facing each other. Pin them together along the side seams, matching up the notches. Stitch the side seams - note there is a very slight curve at the top for your hips.

Trim the seams down to about half their current width. If you’ve added the pockets, there’s a lot of layers of seams there all lying on top of each other, so it’s a good idea to trim a couple of layers down even further to reduce some of the bulk.

Finish the centre front and side seams - you can use the zigzag stitch on your sewing machine, an overlocker if you have one, or even pinking shears if your fabric isn’t likely to fray. Depending on how thick your fabric is and whether you’ve added the pockets, you may want to bind them all together or finish the seams separately.

Press the centre front seam allowances open and press the side seam allowances either open or towards the back, on both wrong and right sides.

Now we’re going to neaten the raw edges of the back opening (on the skirt back pieces opposite the side seams). Turn the raw edge under by 15mm (5/8in), wrong sides together, and press. Turn it under by another 15mm (5/8in) and press again. Pin in place.

Stitch close to the inside fold. Repeat on the other back opening.

Good work! In the next post we'll construct the waistband...