How to Make a Chevron Maxi Skirt

So I had been wanting to make myself a maxi skirt forever. I bought the fabric last November, cut out my skirt pieces and then got put on bed rest. Boo! There’s nothing worse than being so excited for a project and not being able to finish it. I finally finished it in March and pretty much wore it every day until I delivered. It is the comfiest skirt ever. I took pictures when I cut out my pieces and of course they are lost now. So I am going to try and show you the best I can! Just ask me questions if you have any mmmkay?? Here it goes:

Start off with your striped fabric. I chose wide stripes because I knew matching them up to make a chevron would not be fun with small stripes. But to each his own :) I had 3 yards of fabric which was waaay too much. But I am also a shrimp so I’m not sure exactly how much you need. Just make sure it’s plenty long enough for you. Fold your fabric in half (hot dog style) and then in half again (hamburger style) Did that bring you back to your elementary days?? hah
Now you are going to make a pattern for your skirt. Measure your waist or where you want the top of your skirt to hit. Then measure how long you want it to be. (I always make my patterns on tissue paper because it’s easy to pin on fabric and you can see through it to see what you’re doing) Draw a line using your waist measurement and then using a ruler draw a line down for how long you want it to be (adding an inch for seam allowance). I also made mine a tiny bit A-lined. Now fold your pattern in half. We will only be using half of your pattern. Lay it on top of your folded striped fabric at a 45 degree angle. Before you cut make sure your lines are angled enough to make a good chevron! *Mine was a little more than the picture shows but hopefully you get the idea.. **Also cut a little bigger than your pattern to make sure you have plenty of fabric to work with while cutting and sewing.

You should now have a 4 pieces that look like this (2 pieces should have the stripes one way and 2 will be going the other way):

Take two of your pieces that are opposite and sew them right sides together (do the same to the other two pieces) Be very careful to match up the stripes. You want them to look seamless so the chevron is accurate. I pinned like crazy and sewed really slow.:

Now you have two skirt pieces that look like this. And the chevron is born! Lay your pattern (unfolded) down and you can trim your skirt around it. Now sew the two chevrons together (being very careful again to line up your chevrons on the sides) right sides together:

You now have your skirt body ready! Make a waistband from your fabric. I cut 2 rectangles that were: my waist measurement x 6 inches. Fold each rectangle down making it 3 inches with a folded top. Sew your waistband rectangles together, making a tube. Now, sew your waistband to your skirt body right sides together, just like we did in the pencil skirt here.
ANNND you are finished! As I said here I didn’t add elastic because I was pregnant and wanted it to be very comfortable. However I am going to add elastic now to make sure it stays up :) Depending on how stretchy your fabric is, you may or may not need to add elastic in the waistband. You will want to make it smaller than your actual waist measurement though.
I would LOVE to see if you attempt a chevron skirt of your own! Email me and I’d love to see!!

PS Haleigh Rohner photography took my maternity pics and she is fantastic!

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