Pattern Review - Latin Dance Skirt

Last night DS the youngest took part in a dance exhibition. He's going to compete in the pro-am division at the Yankee Classic this month. He'll be competing with his teacher, Tatiana. Last week, Tatiana asked me if I could make her a skirt to wear for exhibitions. She didn't want anything fancy. She needed just a plain black knit skirt. She has a competition dress that had exactly the type of skirt she wanted, so she brought it to show me. It was very straightforward. It is a close fitting skirt with an uneven hemline. The front is 4 inches higher than the back, with a 5 inch wide circular ruffle. Piece of cake. So I took her measurements and got to work.

Fabric Used: I used Matte Poly Jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics that I had lying around the studio.

A Couple of Construction Notes: The skirt is a variation on the standard elastic waist skirt. Being the lazy person that I am, I grabbed an old Kwik Sew pattern that I haven't used in ages. It's Kwik Sew 3032:


I made two pattern pieces from the skirt body pattern: the front curves from the side seam up to the desired height at the center front (which in this case was 13.5 inches from the waist). The back curves down to 17.5 inches at the center back. I based her skirt on the size small. For the ruffle, I just used the ruffle included with the pattern, but I used the size medium rather than the small, to allow for a little more length thanks to the curvature of the hem.

I serged the ruffle pieces to the front and back, then I serged the side seams. I sewed 1/2 inch elastic into the waistline on the wrong side, then turned it down and sewed it in place. Voila! a dance skirt in under an hour, start to finish. I brought it to the exhibition last night. Tatiana put it on and loved it! She wants me to make one for her in every color. Here are a couple of pictures of them dancing:




Tatiana was really happy. I can't believe how much dancewear manufacturers charge for skirts like that. Less than one yard of fabric, and a simple design, and you pay around $75. Eek! Makes me glad I sew.

Happy sewing!