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St. Patrick’s Day Ribbon Skirt Tutorial

March 11, 2014 By Sarah Westover McKenna 21 Comments

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This simple sewing tutorial will teach you how to make a ribbon skirt for your little girl using only ribbons and a bit of elastic!

A skirt made of ONLY ribbons! I LOVE IT!! If you can sew a straight line then you can sew this skirt!

*  I received this ribbon free of charge from The Ribbon Retreat.  All designs and opinions are 100% my own.

Good morning!  I am so excited to share my festive St. Patrick’s Day Ribbon Skirt Tutorial with you today.  I love love LOVE making fun holiday ensembles for my kids!  It’s made entirely of ribbons, ribbons, and more ribbons.  Do you want to learn how to make a ribbon skirt for your own little leprechaun?  This is the skirt that was shown Monday in the pictures of my little gal in her St. Patrick’s Day Rhinestone Headband.

Ok, let’s talk about ribbon skirt measurements.  THIS IS IMPORTANT….and a bit lengthy.  I don’t know how exactly to explain to you how I figured out my measurements.  I am going to try my best to explain my process, but, to be honest, it was a bit of trial and error.   I apologize for not having exact measurements for you.

My little lady is almost two, but she is super duper petite, so you will have to adapt this for your child. She wears a size 18 -24 month clothes pretty roomily, just as a reference.  I only needed one package of the ribbon mixes for my skirt, but if your little gal is any taller than mine you will probably want two of the ribbon mixes in order to have a long enough skirt.  I had measured from her waist to her knee and determined that if I cut the ribbons in half I could stack them all up and it would be the right length.

Now let’s talk about width / circumference of the skirt.  Each ribbon is about 2 yards long, and I knew that my gal was much thinner than that (as most are, obviously).  The thing about these ribbon skirts is that you don’t want them to be wide and billowy like a twirly skirt.  Ribbons don’t drape and fold nicely like fabric because they are so stiff, so you want the skirt’s circle to be wide enough to slide on and off easily, but not so wide that it folds and looks funny.  What I did was use a soft measuring tape to measure loosely around her waist and hips.  I made sure to move it up and down to see if it would realistically work after it was sewn.

Once I measured I determined that if I cut the ribbons in half it would work well.  After I sewed them together I realized it was far too wide, so I ended up cutting about ten inches off after I held it up to her body and figured out how much excess ribbon I had.  I ended up wasting some ribbon, which was sad.  But I do love how it turned out.  Hopefully my trial and error will help you find simpler success.

Done with the rambling, and on to the pictures and tutorial.  All you need is ribbons, ribbons, and more ribbons, along with a bit of elastic.  I used the Just My Luck ribbon mix.  If you have a bigger gal than I do you’ll probably want to grab two mixes.  Cute stuff, huh?!

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-1

As I told you, I cut them in half, and then I laid them out in a pattern that I liked.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-2 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-3 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-4

Now, this process is pretty straightforward.  It’s all straight lines.  It’s too hard to pin things that only overlap such a small amount, so I just held them carefully and sewed slowly.  I messed up every once in a while, but I fixed that pretty simply.  Let’s take a look at the process.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-5 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-6 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-7

I just kept lining up the ribbons and repeating the same process over and over and over.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-8

If you are not a confident seamstress you may want to stick with only thicker ribbons.  The super skinny ones were a bit tricky.  Here is how I handled that — I overlapped the larger ribbons only on the back of the super skinny ribbon.  In fact, you couldn’t even see the skinny ribbon from the back, but it still looked great from the front.  See pics below.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-12 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-13 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-15

The back view of the hidden thin ribbon (above) and the front view (below).

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-16

Here’s what happened when I messed up.  As you can see in the picture below, I wavered while sewing and part of the ribbon line was left gaping open.  So I simply went back and resewed it.  I did a bit of backstitching at the start and end of the gap.  It’s not perfect, but in the front it still works.  As my friend Jessica’s grandma always says about sewing mistakes, “You won’t see that from a galloping horse.”  Whatever that means.  Haha.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-9 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-10 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-11

At this point I held it up around my daughter and saw that it was much too large around the hips.  I ended up cutting off about 10 inches.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-19

Now put the right sides together and sew the two edges together so you have a circle skirt of ribbon.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-20

Try to iron the ribbons to one side so the skirt will lie a bit smoother.  Ribbons don’t iron particularly well because they are so stiff, but try.  It gives the skirt a cleaner look overall.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-21

Now sew a casing for the elastic.  Just fold the large top ribbon in half and iron it.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-22

Sew around the skirt to create a casing, but leave a space open for the elastic.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-23

Measure your little one’s waist and subtract a couple of inches.  Cut the elastic that long.  (My little gal had a waist about 2 inches around, so I cut the elastic about 19 inches long.)  Grab a couple of safety pins.  Pin one end of the elastic to the skirt, and put the pin through the other end but don’t pin it to the skirt, as shown below.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-24

Now push and gather and scrunch and pull until you have gotten that safety pin all the way around the waist and pulled out through the other end, as shown below.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-25 Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-26

Now sew the elastic ends together, wiggle them into the casing, and sew the opening in the casing closed.

Ribbon Skirt Tutorial-27

You are done!!  Simple, right?  A bit tedious with all the ribbon, I know, but LOOK at the end result!  Too cute, am I right?!

A skirt made of ONLY ribbons! I LOVE IT!! If you can sew a straight line then you can sew this skirt! A skirt made of ONLY ribbons! I LOVE IT!! If you can sew a straight line then you can sew this skirt!

My little leprechaun is pleased with her ribbon skirt.  🙂  Do you like her headband?  I shared the tutorial for that Rhinestone Headband yesterday.  It’ll take about five minutes flat to make.  Probably less.  Truly.

A skirt made of ONLY ribbons! I LOVE IT!! If you can sew a straight line then you can sew this skirt!

Let me know if you decide to sew a ribbon skirt of your own!  I would love to see pictures!

A skirt made of ONLY ribbons! I LOVE IT!! If you can sew a straight line then you can sew this skirt!

If you enjoyed this post then you may also enjoy these St. Patrick’s Day baby girl related projects:

Lucky Legs - How to Make Baby Legwarmers by Craft Quickies
Lucky Legs:  How to Make Baby Legwarmers

Lucky Charm Hair Bow from Craft Quickies

Lucky Charm Hair Bow 

St. Patrick's Day Rhinestone Headband from Bombshell Bling

St Patrick’s Day Rhinestone Headband

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Sarah Westover McKenna

Sarah Westover McKenna

Sarah is the scattered creative mind behind Bombshell Bling. A former elementary school teacher and a current stay-at-home mom, she loves developing her creativity through her blog and her jewelry design business, Bombshell Bling Jewelry. Sarah is a lover of all things vintage, colorful, and BLING. She is also a sweets addict with a major obsession with s'mores.
Sarah Westover McKenna

@bombshellbling

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Filed Under: Baby and Kids, Crafts, Holidays, Sewing, St. Patrick's Day, Tutorials

« St. Patrick’s Day Rhinestone Headband
Dr. Seuss Room: Free Printable & Book Page Collage Frame »

Comments

  1. Crystal Nell says

    March 11, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    The daughter is adorable and so is the skirt. So cute!!

    Reply
  2. creativejewishmom/sara says

    February 28, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    Really adorable on your little one! thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

    Reply
  3. Lynn@Happier Than A Pig In Mud says

    February 29, 2016 at 4:12 am

    Absolutely adorable, this turned out great!

    Reply
  4. Ali @ Home Crafts by Ali says

    March 1, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    This is such a fun and cute project! I would never have thought to try out making a skirt from ribbons, but now I want to!

    You should link up to our new Creatively Crafty link party on Thursday. =)

    Reply
  5. Jamie says

    March 7, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    That is adorable!! I love how it will be a one-of-a-kind! Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty

    Reply
  6. Shannon says

    March 8, 2016 at 5:45 am

    I love this skirt!! So cute – it tempts me to try and make something like it for my daughters birthday! I have picked you as one of my features for this weeks Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop. Thanks for linking up with us 🙂

    Reply
  7. Frugal Hausfrau says

    March 9, 2016 at 12:13 am

    Cute and perfect for a St. Patrick’s princess! Thanks for sharing this with us on Throwback Thursday! Hope to see you next week!

    Mollie

    Reply
  8. Carlee says

    March 9, 2016 at 7:53 am

    That is so darn cute (and so is your model!) I wish I could sew, every little girl I know would have one! Thanks for sharing at Throwback Thursday.

    Reply
  9. Marie says

    February 21, 2017 at 7:25 am

    This is adorable! I would have never thought to sew ribbons together for a skirt but I love it! Thanks for the awesome idea!

    Reply
  10. Victoria @DazzleWhileFrazzled says

    February 24, 2017 at 5:51 am

    So cute! Maybe I can see if my 7 year old would wear a ribbon skirt?! Great (easy) idea. Visiting from Pretty Pintastic Party.

    Reply
  11. Charlene Asay says

    February 25, 2017 at 9:51 pm

    Loving this cute little skirt. Thanks for sharing with us at Family Joy Blog Link Up Party. Don’t forget to join us tomorrow ( Sunday) and link up again. http://thinking-outside-the-pot.com/?p=3389

    Reply
  12. Cristina at Ava's Alphabet says

    February 25, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    How clever! This project is adorable. Pinned and sharing. Thank you for joining us at Family Joy Blog Link-Up Party. I hope you will join our next party starting Sunday at noon EST.

    Reply
  13. Angie ~ ambient wares says

    February 26, 2017 at 1:45 pm

    Oh my goodness this is so smart! Thanks for sharing this too at Funtastic Friday! Pinning

    Reply
  14. Erlene Amat says

    February 26, 2017 at 7:01 pm

    I miss sewing skirts for my girls. This is so cute and an easy sewing project for a beginner. Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday.

    Reply
  15. June Rostad says

    March 3, 2017 at 6:00 pm

    The skirt came out super cute. Love the picture of your baby too! How would you wash it? (Hand wash?) I would be afraid of putting it in the machine.

    Reply
    • Sarah Westover McKenna says

      March 6, 2017 at 11:23 am

      I believe I did hand wash it.

      Reply
  16. Lisa // Cucicucicoo: Eco Sewing and Crafting says

    February 18, 2018 at 4:25 am

    What an incredible idea, to create your own fabric out of ribbon! Love it! Sharing and Pinning! 🙂 Lisa

    Reply
  17. Ginny says

    February 18, 2018 at 5:41 am

    That is such a cute skirt, and looks so neatly sewn.

    Reply
  18. Kristen says

    February 22, 2018 at 8:01 am

    This is such a cute skirt!

    Reply
  19. Sharon@bluewillowhouse says

    February 23, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    Adorable skirt for St. Patrick’s Day and a wonderful tutorial. Thank you for sharing at Snickerdoodle. I am featuring your little skirt at the party this week.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. #FoodieFriDIY - St. Patrick's Day is NEXT WEEK! – A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures says:
    August 1, 2020 at 7:05 am

    […] St. Patrick’s Day Ribbon Skirt Tutorial by Bombshell Bling […]

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