Hello! Welcome to Make Thrift Buy, episode
number 27!

And as always, this is the show where you,
the audience, send me in pictures of cool

things you’ve seen on the internet, and
then I do my best to recreate them.

So today’s challenge was sent in by both
Cheese and Apple.

Seriously?
Either, that's a weird coincidence, or...

I've now got sentient food subscribed to my
youtube channel...

Anyway, a cheese and an apple wanted me to
try and recreate this skirt.

Which I found on a couple of cheap wholesale
sites from $13 - $30.

So – let’s begin!

Now I had this theory that this skirt was
just a square circle skirt. Okay that didn’t

really make any sense at all, because how
can you have a square circle

– but stick with me.

First off I chose my fabric. This is a non-stretchy
tartan fabric that I got for free. Well, it's

secondhand. When people know that you’re
into sewing, it turns out there’s a lot

of people who have fabric they don’t need
anymore stashed away in their basements.

Now I wanted the shortest part of my skirt
to be approximately 15 inches long, so I cut

out a square that was 40 by 40 inches.
Then, I simply folded this material in half,

folded it in half again… so that I had this.
Then I took my waist measurement – 30 inches

– and I divided this by 6.28.
This gave me approximately 4.7 inches. So,

I drew a quarter circle with a radius of 4.7
inches onto this corner of the fabric, using

some chalk.
Then, I cut this quarter circle out, cutting

through all layers of fabric.

I then unfolded the fabric, and I have this!

Then I tried the skirt on for size and for
some reason... this happened.

Now I know that my circle skirt maths are
right, so, at first I thought this was all

my fault – that it was due to the fact that
I didn’t put any pins in the fabric here,

and then cut this circle out pretty haphazardly…

BUT WAIT GUYS – NO – IT’S NOT MY FAULT
because then I actually read on this website

that it’s the fabric’s fault, due to something
called “bias”.

Which is, bascially, how your fabric stretches
diagonally. And according to this website,

cutting on the bias will cause your fabric
to stretch. So they actually recommend taking

4 inches off your waist measurement and THEN
calculating your circle radius!

So, I should actually use a 26 inch waist
measurement.

Well, now I know that for the future. But
unfortunately, I’ve already cut out my fabric

IN THE PAST.

But, never fear, I haven’t ruined my fabric,
because this is totally fixable – and let

me show you how I fix it!

So I cut straight up here - which I was intending
to do anyway - and then I folded the raw edges...

over until the circle’s circumference is
about 30 inches, which is my waist measurement!

So, I put a mark on these two points, pinned
these extra pieces out of the way, and then

I continued!

At this point, I also hemmed the bottom of
the skirt. First, I overlocked all the edges,

then I folded the edges over about 1/2 an
inch, and then I sewed over the top using

a straight stitch. Now I know that not everyone
has an overlocker machine, so if you do want

to try out this project then check out this
video here, which gives you 3 different ways

to hem a skirt!

The next step is to cut out my waistband.

I cut out a rectangle of fabric that is 4
inches wide, and my waist measurement, plus

2-3 inches, long.

Today, I’m making a cheat’s version of
a waistband.

With the wrong side of the waistband facing
UP, I fold it over in half length-ways. Now,

the right side of the waistband is on the
outside.

Then, I simply sew, using a straight stitch,
down this edge.

Now to attach the waistband to the skirt - with
the skirt right-side up, I line the sewn edge

of the waistband up with the raw edge of the
waist.

Then I sew the two pieces together like this.
And I’m going to be sewing directly over

the top of the stitches that I made when I
constructed the waistband.

I also make sure that I unfold those folded-over
edges on, that I made earlier to resize the

skirt, before sewing over the top of them.

I then go over these stitches again with my
overlocker to make it look neater on the inside,

but again, this is not a necessary step if
you don’t own one of these.

Then, I unfold the waistband and... this is
what it looks like attached to the top of

the skirt.

Then I fold the skirt in half, right sides
together, so that the two un-sewn edges of

the skirt line up.

And now I'm going to insert my zipper!

So I grab my zipper, which is about 6 inches
long, line it up with the skirt (with the

waistband at the top) and now I’m going
to sew basting stitches from here to here,

and NORMAL length, straight stitches, with
a backstitch, from here to here.

After sewing the skirt back together into
a loop, I press the seam open. Then I lay

my zipper down on top of the seam, so that
the teeth of the zipper match up exactly with

the seam.

And then I’m going to sew the zipper onto
the skirt like this.

It helps, when you're inserting a zipper,
to use a zipper foot, but if you don’t have

one, then you can carefully use a normal sewing
foot or even hand-stitch it in.

Lastly, I carefully cut through the basting
stitches to remove them, setting the zipper

free! And I’m done.

So – how does it look? How did I go?

[music plays]

So my conclusion is OBVIOUSLY:
[scissors snipping sound effect]

Make this for yourself!
If you already know how to make a circle skirt,

this is even simpler - because the most difficult
thing, I think, about making a circle skirt

is hemming that curved edge - and this doesn't
even have curved edges!

Anyway, thank you all so much for watching,
give me a thumbs up if you enjoyed this, and

I'll see you all next time. Bye!