Running skirt with pocket

Yes, I am at it again! Although I love love love buying the brand name running skirts, a lot of them have either shorts attached or don't provide the kind of coverage I'm looking for.

When I buy a running skirt, I really want to cover up my spandex/compression short bum. And today's tutorial has a pocket added. Now, if you don't want to add a pocket, this skirt will be even simpler.

Today's skirt cost $4. (Technically 3.99) the spandex material was on sale at my local Hancock. Now, for choosing your fabric, I think you should definitely go to a fabric store and touch the fabrics. I like mine to be lightweight. I knew which one I wanted by touch.

Here is what you'll need to complete this project
Stretch needle for your sewing machine
Serger (optional)
1/2 yard (unless you want a longer skirt) spandex material
           note : you could also use a knit, just something with a good amount of stretch to it
Coordinating thread

Step one, cut the skirt portion to 12" (you can do more or less depending on what you want your final skirt length to be)

The remaining strip will be your waistband.

Step two, wrap your waistband around your waist. Make it as loose or tight as you'd want it to be when you're wearing it. Now add 1/2 (for seam allowance) and cut.

Step three, cut your skirt into halves (this makes your front and back), you should have one waistband, a front and a back. Now, fold your waistband in half, then in half again. Lay your front and back on top of each other and fold in half.

Step four, If you want your skirt to have a fit and flare feel to it, like I did, cut your flare off of your skirt. (See picture below)

Step five, cut out your pocket pieces. You will need two, a front and a back. I made mine about 3.5 by 6.75. This includes your seam allowances. Mine is big enough for a couple gu gels and a car key. If you want to be able to hold your phone in yours, cut around your phone, leaving 1/4" for seam allowances.

Step 6, pin your pocket to the bottom of your waistband and the top of your skirt. I like my pockets in the back. (At this point there is no front or back of the skirt, nor top or bottom of your waistband, but whereever you place your pocket determines these things) Try to match them up as best you can. 

 Step 7, sew your pocket pieces to your waistband and skirt. See how you now have a nice, clean edge? That is the outside of your skirt! All the seams will be on the inside.

See that pretty edge? Make sure yours looks like this as you are putting your right sides together!

 Step 8, sew your skirt front and back right sides together (make sure that the pretty part of your pocket is facing inside) I used my serger here. Many sewists use a zig-zag stitch for sewing knits and active material. It helps to keep the stretch.

 Step 9, round out the bottom of your skirt. I also took rounded out only the front of my skirt. I like my skirts to sit a little lower in the front. Plus I have a big ol' bum, so the back will need more coverage. If you are going to finish the bottom of the skirt by serging, you can do it now. You could also turn it up and stitch it. Spandex doesn't fray so you could just call it a day and leave it as is - easy peasy right?

 Step 10, stitch the short sides of your waistband together (you should end up with a 7" tall loop)
Step 11, fold it over and sew all the way around. This is so you aren't fighting all the layers of fabric later. And yes, you even sew around where the pocket is.

 Step 12, match up your skirt at the sides, front, back and pocket. Make sure that your smooth seamed sides of the pocket go together at this point. Thats what will make it invisible when you wear it. (See picture above)

 Step 13, sew waistband to skirt. I made my skirt ever so slightly wider than my waistband. If you do the same, just pull evenly on your waistband and it will match up. :)
NOTE: Do not sew your pocket shut. When you get to your pocket, sew around the outside. If you're looking at the picture above, you would sew along the waistband, then go up to sew the left sides of the pocket together, turn right to sew the bottom of the pocket together (its the top right now only because the pocket is inside out) and then down to sew the right side together, then you just continue sewing the waistband to the skirt!

 And you're done! Look at that nice, nearly invisible pocket!

 Ellie wearing my skirt :)

 Back view. The pocket is on the right. You can't even tell can you?!

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DIY Tiered Sparkle Running Skirt tutorial

DIY sparkle running skirt....

First things first, if you haven't already, please stop by pinterest and re-pin this! 
I could win a super-cool sewing machine.... which I would love!

Here's a little something I whipped up tonight. Total cost = about $7.
These start at $30 on the website I looked at, and that was not a tiered skirt!

Looks good right?
You wanna make one right?

Okay here we go... disclaimer it is 1:30 am and I am tired so if I sound like an idiot just comment below and I'll go back through and try to fix it. :)

Here is what you will need:
Sewing Machine
Optional serger
Fabric (I used the sparkly kind) 1 yd
Elastic, your waist or hip size (whereever you like your skirt to sit)
Matching thread
Seam ripper (just in case)
Pins

Okay so step one is cutting
I knew I wanted the fabric part of my skirt to be about 14" so I cut my bottom tier at 10" and my top tier at 6". If you want to lengthen or shorten, you do so while cutting.
Widths are all based off of how full you want your tiers to be. And the most important thing is that you have enough room for your hips! Take your hip measurement and add about 6". You want your top tier to be at least this wide. You want your bottom tier to be as wide as possible so it is very full. If you have a really long stride, you may not want it as full, the extra fabric may get caught between your legs!

When you cut, you want your height to be from selvedge edge up. Your width will be however wide you got your fabric cut.

I ended up with 4 pieces.
Top tier was 6" tall by 25" wide.
Bottom tier was 10" tall by full width of the fabric.






Now, bring your bottom two pieces together at one end, right sides (sparkly sides) together. You will sewing the short sides together (your 6" side) Sew. Repeat this for the other end. Then repeat for the top tier (10" sies together). Once you finish that, switch your stitch to a zig-zag stitch. Zig zag your rough edges. That will be where you sewed your seam (or else it will fray) and then the top and bottom of each tier. (If you have a serger, now is the time to use it! Finish all edges with your serger instead of a zig-zag stitch)

(Right sides together!) The sparklies need to be touching!

Note: When you do this make sure you press one seam forward and one seam back. When you wear your skirt you want the left side and right sides pointing back (look at your jeans if you don't know what I mean)

Okay, now we start putting it together.
Use a long stitch (I set my machine to 4, the longest stitch it has)
Sew from one seam to the opposite side. Stop and cut, making sure you have about 4-5" of thread. Then sew the other side from seam to seam, and cut the same way.

When you zig zag stich around the top and bottom tiers, make sure the seam faces back. This will make it look more professional. If you don't care - nobody else will be looking inside your skirt so just make sure the seams match up later ;)

Now, figure out where your front middle and back middle are. I do this by putting my seams together and folding the skirt in half. Then I mark the middle with a pin. I do this with the top and bottom tier.

Now match up your front, right, back and left (see, this is why we needed the pins) When you match them up, make sure your seams are both headed the same direction.

Gathering thread. You pull on one side of the thread (side here means front or back. Not both)

See the gum build up on the needle? You'll have to clean this off as soon as you see it! If you don't it will break your thread and you'll get very angry - trust me on that!

 Now pull on your gathering thread. If you use a good quality thread it should not break on you. Arrange your gathers where you want your ruffles to be. Pin about every inch to inch and a half. You want lots of pins!

Now sew your top and bottom tiers together - be sure to change your stitch length back to a normal stitch length. I overlapped mine by about 2". (Just in case you were wondering how 6 + 10 = 14 earlier, its really
6 + 10 - 2 = 14.... this is where that minus two comes into play. You don't have to overlap yours this much. It just gives it a nice ruffle so I wanted to have a little playfulness to mine.

Stitching the bottom tier to the top. 

Take out all your pins.

Now, when it comes to your elastic, you're going to want it 4 inches less than your waist. Your elastic will stretch when you do this next step and if you make it to your size it will be too big! Overlap your elastic one inch and zig zag stitch the loose ends down.

Overlap elastic and zig zag stitch on front and back

Find the front and sides of your elastic. Find the middles of your fabric. Now this time you want to pay attention to which way your seams are facing. You want the seams facing towards the back for less resistance when you run (its more comfortable).... Match everything up. You may even want to match it up in 8ths (you'll use the same folding method to find in between the front and side, side and back, etc).

Your fabric will be bigger than your elastic, so pull on the elastic while you sew.

Then pull on your elastic so it is flat while you sew. I pulled the sparkly fabric about an inch above the bottom edge of the elastic and sewed about 1/2" above the bottom edge of the elastic. That way it had a little bit of a "ruffle" effect around the top.

Not into ruffles? You could tuck the sparkly fabric underneath instead of sewing it to the top side of the elastic if you want to omit the ruffle :) You could also omit the ruffle between the tiers by pinning the top of the bottom tier to the bottom of the top tier with sparkly sides together.

Voila! Take out your pins and you are done!!!

Now go for a run! And SPARKLE!

Hmmm I need a model. Where's Ellie?

Thats better but Ellie is totally covering up all the bling on my wall.

Now you can see all the race bling. I run for medals.

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A little something for mama!

Yes you read that right, I actually set aside some time to sew for myself!

I was lucky enough to test out Jocole's yoga skirt, it comes in 5 or so different lengths... I will be making a maxi very soon. This pattern takes striped fabric and shows you how to line it up to make chevrons, cool, huh? I made a trip to Jo-Anns and could only find a few knit striped fabrics, so I chose a smaller print blue, silver and white. It took me about 20 minutes to cut out, and would have only taken me about 20 minutes to sew if I hadn't used a ribbed knit for the waistband.... I didn't realize how much stretch those had, and they were completely falling off. So I seam ripped and made a new waistband out of the striped knit. Much better!

I suggest this skirt for any ladies to try out. It would be a great beginner pattern, can be done in knits or solids. And because its knit, you don't have to serge the raw edges. You can sew and go!



These pictures crack me up, P-bear was playing photographer and had a blast posing me. I guess turnabout is fair play though!

If you're going to do a chevron you HAVE to make sure they match up. Seriously, go get the Jocole pattern! It's TDF!

It was absolutely necessary that I have flowers for my pictures, apparently!

P demanded a "fun" picture.... this is what I get for making her run and jump around I suppose ;n)  But it actually turned out pretty cool with the light coming up over the shed!