Tiered Skirt Tutorial
Sep. 16th, 2005 12:04 pmOk this is my first tutorial so I hope I have explained everything all right. I would say this is for a somewhat experienced seamstress.

You will need about 3 3/8 yards of fabric. A non-stretchy thin fabric. I used this bleached cotton muslin. Then I tie dyed it.
If you want it shorter take a tier or more off. It's a pretty long skirt. It fits up to a 44" waist. If you need it bigger add however many inches you need on, just make sure you add the same amount on all the tiers. Make sure you add about an 1" for seam allowance and about 5" for movement.
Cut the pieces out as follows-
tier 1- the yoke- 23 1/2" long, 6" wide cut 2 of these
tier 2- 27" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 3- 30 1/3" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 4- 36" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 5- 41" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 6- 32" long, 6" wide, cut 3
tier 7- 38" long, 6" wide, cut 3
tier 8- 43" long, 6" wide, cut 3

Sew sections of each tier together to form circles. Gather one end of tier 1 and sew it to tier 2. Gather the bottom of tier 2 and sew it to tier 3. Gather the bottom of tier 3 and sew it to tier 4 and keep repeating this with all the tiers. Remember right sides together, finish your seams and take the basting stitch you used for gathering out.
Turn the bottom of the skirt under and top stitch. Turn the top under to form a casing, measure your elastic, pull it through and sew up the casing.
I didn't follow the grain of the fabric correctly because I didn't have enough fabric and it came out ok. If you do that just watch out because the pieces will be stretchy.
To gather I use two rows of basting stitch and leave the end threads long, then pull them. I gathered each section of the tiers to get more even gathers. It is just slightly gathered not really ruffly. Hope I explained it ok, if you have any questions I'll try to answer them.

You will need about 3 3/8 yards of fabric. A non-stretchy thin fabric. I used this bleached cotton muslin. Then I tie dyed it.
If you want it shorter take a tier or more off. It's a pretty long skirt. It fits up to a 44" waist. If you need it bigger add however many inches you need on, just make sure you add the same amount on all the tiers. Make sure you add about an 1" for seam allowance and about 5" for movement.
Cut the pieces out as follows-
tier 1- the yoke- 23 1/2" long, 6" wide cut 2 of these
tier 2- 27" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 3- 30 1/3" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 4- 36" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 5- 41" long, 6" wide, cut 2
tier 6- 32" long, 6" wide, cut 3
tier 7- 38" long, 6" wide, cut 3
tier 8- 43" long, 6" wide, cut 3

Sew sections of each tier together to form circles. Gather one end of tier 1 and sew it to tier 2. Gather the bottom of tier 2 and sew it to tier 3. Gather the bottom of tier 3 and sew it to tier 4 and keep repeating this with all the tiers. Remember right sides together, finish your seams and take the basting stitch you used for gathering out.
Turn the bottom of the skirt under and top stitch. Turn the top under to form a casing, measure your elastic, pull it through and sew up the casing.
I didn't follow the grain of the fabric correctly because I didn't have enough fabric and it came out ok. If you do that just watch out because the pieces will be stretchy.
To gather I use two rows of basting stitch and leave the end threads long, then pull them. I gathered each section of the tiers to get more even gathers. It is just slightly gathered not really ruffly. Hope I explained it ok, if you have any questions I'll try to answer them.