Floral Box Pleat Skirt (Tutorial)

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Okay, so this post has been a long time in the making - I actually made this skirt back in the summer, but never got round to blogging it, for no other reason than that I keep getting distracted by other projects. It's already made a few appearances on my Instagram and it was starting to bug me that it didn't have its own dedicated post, so here we go!

I had this fabric for years and years and years - it was a charity shop find back in the early days of my sewing adventures. Since I've been trying to work through my stash in the last year or so (admittedly, I'm doing less well on that these days), it seemed like a good fabric to try and use up. This was straight up fabric fabric - not a bedsheet or a curtain, but an actual length of cotton, which I now realise I was incredibly lucky to have stumbled across when not even looking for it. I don't think I've ever come across raw materials in a physical charity shop since (though FYI, you can get fabric from Oxfam's online store*).

Anyway, I thought the best use for it would be as some sort of voluminous skirt. I freaking love big, poofy skirts (as may be apparent if you've ever scrolled through my blog...) and any excuse to make another one and I'm going to take it. As this fabric was actually quite heavy and thick, I thought I'd change things up a little and do box pleats rather than my usual gathers - gathering thick fabrics can create a lot of bulk, whereas pleating will "tame" the fabric a little more, encouraging it to sit flatter against the body.

This post has taken me so long to write that I now have a whole other batch of photos with this skirt - the ones in the black top were taken back in the summer, and the ones in the pink shirt were taken more recently. Speaking of photos, I actually took making of photos during this project, which means I can attempt another tutorial! So here we go:

Tutorial Time

To make a box pleated skirt, you basically need two measurements: your waist, and your desired length.

First, work out how much fabric you'll need.

Box pleating requires 3x your waist measurement - my waist is 25" so 3 x 25" = 75"

You then want to add seam allowances - I used 1/2" on either side since it's easier to calculate than 5/8", which brought me up to 76"

Length is completely up to you - I went for 26" and gave myself 2" hem allowance, bring it up to 28"

So I was cutting out a 76" x 28" rectangle.

While you're at it, cut out a waistband. This should be your waist + seam allowances wide (for me 25" with 1/2" on either side, so 26"). The height, again is up to you. Waistbands are folded in on themselves, so whatever measurement you decide on, you'll have to double. I like mine 1.5" so I double this to 3" then added my 1/2" seam allowance to both edges, bringing it up to 4".

So my waistband was 26" x 4".

Once they are cut out, it's time to decide how many pleats you want/how big you want them. I prefer to have an odd number, that way you can have one pleat in the centre, with the centre front line running down the middle of it, which I think looks better than one pleat either side of the CF line.

I don't technically remember what I did, but let's say I did 9 pleats. Divide your waist measurement by the number of pleats to get how wide each pleat will be - 25"/9 = 2.8" (as you likely don't know off the top of your head how many pleats you're going to want, I suggest playing around with different amounts to see which pleat width you prefer).

Now, take your skirt fabric, mark the seam allowance, then mark (use either pins or chalk) your pleat measurement (for me, 2.8") over and over again, until you've reached the end of your fabric. Then mark the seam allowance on the other side.

(pink lines = pleat markings. For illustrative purposes only;
you should have a lot more markings than this!)

Now it's time to get pleating. Take your first pleat mark, pinch it, and fold it towards your seam allowance mark, and pin in place. Ignore the other pin here, that was just to mark halfway between the two points to check my pleats ended in the right place, but you don't really need to do that.

Then move on to the other side. Go to your next pleat marking, pinch it, and drag it in the opposite direction to your first pleat, to your next pleat marking. Again, the other pin just shows where the pleat should be going in, you can ignore this. Pin in place, and you'll now have a box pleat.

Repeat with all the remaining pleats, making sure there are no gaps between your pleats. Also make sure they don't overlap. It might take a bit of repinning to get things exactly right, but it's worth the effort.

Here's what it should look like from the right side:

And here's what it should look like between the layers (this was when it was also pinned to the waistband, but you'll get the general idea):

Once you're done, carefully sew into place - you might want to use a longer stitch length on the machine at first (e.g. 4.5mm), so that if any pleats slip out of place and need redoing, it's easier to unpick and start again. If you go for this approach, don't forget to sew over this line with a stronger, shorter stitch afterwards (e.g. 2.5mm).

Give your pleats a good press, and that's all there is to the pleating. The rest is standard skirt stuff - add your waistband if you haven't already, add a zipper to the centre back and sew up that seam, hem, and then fold down your waistband and sew into place.

And there you go. Let me know if anything isn't clear, I'd be more than happy to try and help!

And if you're interested in making your own and are lusting after my fabric, here are some similar options I've found:

Cotton canvas* - this is a heavy weight fabric so will likely handle pretty similar to the fabric I used

Another cotton canvas* which again will handle/hang in a similar way

Lady McElroy cotton lawn* - much lighter by the looks of things, but could make a cute summery version

Rose & Hubble cotton poplin* - not going to be as heavy as the canvas or as light as the lawn. Perhaps a Goldilocks-style happy medium as it would probably hold its pleats, but would be more airy and warm-weather appropriate than a thicker fabric 

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. I'm not usually a floral kind of person, but I think it works well with some of the other pieces in my wardrobe. Most importantly, I do actually wear it, and for me, this is the ultimate test of whether a sewing project was a success.