How To Make A Six-Gore Skirt Using YOUR Measurements
To give you an illustration of how easy it is to make a pattern, let’s make a 6-gore skirt. For the example, we’ll use a waist measurement of 30 inches, hip 42 inches and skirt length of 30 inches. Remember, when you make the skirt for yourself you simply use YOUR waist, hip, and skirt length measurements instead of these sample ones.
A. Begin by making a “T” – top of the “T” is equal to your waist measurement divided by 6. The sample has a waist of 30″, so divide 30″ by 6 to equal 5″. The vertical line (drawn from the center of the top line) is the skirt length, and our sample is 30″.
B. The hipline is normally 8″ below the waist, so at that point you’ll make a horizontal like equal to hip divided by 6 + 1/4″. Our sample hip measurement is 42″, so the horizontal line is 7 plus 1/4 or 7 1/4″.
C. With a straight yardstick, draw in the outside lines of the skirt, connecting the waist to hip to the bottom and draw in the bottom line.
D. At the top center of the “T” measure down 1/4″ and make the slight waistline curve. The outside edges of the bottom are measured up 1/4″ each and the slight hemline curve drawn.
E. Make your waistband to equal your waist measurement plus 1 1/2″, and the width is 2 1/2″ (your finished waistband will be 1 1/4″ wide).
Remember you have not allowed for seams yet, so after making the skirt pattern, mark the 5/8″ seam allowance all around and a 3″ hem. The seam allowance will be drawn around the skirt as well as the waistband. Also, remember you will need to cut 6 of the skirt pieces, since it is a 6-gore skirt. The vertical center line of the pattern will be used as the “straight grain” line, when placing the pattern on the fabric.
You can draw your skirt pattern on grocery bags that have been cut open, or on newspapers, or you can get regular pattern paper from a fabric store.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this FREE pattern, and can see how well the pattern fits, since you’ve used your OWN measurements, and not a “standard” set of measurements that the pattern companies use. This FREE project is an excerpt from the “Make Your Own Skirt Patterns” class, that gives individual instructions and diagrams on making all styles of skirts and culottes, which you can find in the “pattern making” category on this site.