A-Line Skirt Series: Box Pleat Skirt Tutorial

***I'm doing an A-Line Skirt Mini Series! Read about the Floral Midi Skirt here, and stay tuned for the Delicate Scalloped Skirt!***

Up next on the A-Line Skirt Series is this Bold Box Pleat Skirt. Today I'm going to give you some major pointers on accurately measuring out box pleats! You guys, it's way more math than I had anticipated!!! But I've done most of the dirty work for you, so follow along and you'll have a great box pleat skirt in just a few hours!

But before getting into the tutorial, you should know that I sewed this skirt up in the mountains while my husband was interning at a boy scout camp. I did it in a dimly lit cabin with no running water (not that you need water to sew) all during our son's precious nap time. So I'm just saying, if I can quickly work this baby out, you should have no prob! As always though, just comment if you're stuck on and need help. Let's do this!

Outfit 1:

Top: Old Navy

Skirt: floral skirt by me (similar)

Shoes: Franco Sarto Sandals (similar)

Outfit 2:

Top: Old Navy

Skirt: stripe skirt by me (similar)

Shoes: Payless Shoes (similar)

Outfit 3:

Top: Old Navy

Skirt: scalloped skirt by me (similar, similar)

Shoes: Old Navy

Click through for the tutorial ...


Materials:

• 2 yards of fabric (I used this fabric)
• Coordinating 7-9" invisible zipper
• Coordinating thread
• Small amount of interfacing for yoke if using a light weight fabric
• A sewing machine 

Tutorial:

Step 1: Just as with the Floral Midi Skirt, we are going to use this basic A-Line pattern below, with a few minor adjustments to work with box pleats. Start by measuring for a yoke that will fit you perfectly, that is the key to a great A-line skirt.

Step 2: The yoke should fit right around your natural waist or near. This is a personal preference I suppose, just know that were you measure is where your skirt will fall on your hips.

• Take the number for your measured yoke and divided it in 4 to get a smaller number that will be half of each yoke piece (see the graphic above: the yoke piece is folded then cut with the fold intact)

Step 3: How to Calculate Box Pleats for YOU: For the skirt piece, you will have to do a few different things to make sure you have enough fabric for box pleats. I'll put in bold the numbers that I used so you can follow it that way also.

• First, take your waist measurement (the same you used to figure the yoke) and split it in half. I did a little bit larger than my natural waist because my fabric was very stiff and therefore would make the pleats a bit smaller due to folding. 28" / 2 = 14"
• Next, decide how many box pleats you want on the front and on the back. I chose to do 4 on front and 4 on back.
• Take your 1/2 waist number and divided it by the number of pleats you want, this number is how wide each visible pleat will be. For mine it was: 14" / 4 = 3 1/2"
• Now you will need to decide how big you want your back pleats to be (the ones that you can't see). These can be up to the same size as the front pleats or smaller depending on the amount of fabric you have and the fullness you prefer for the skirt. I did 1" inverts on each side and that made the back pleat 2" for a total of 4 more inches of fabric per pleat.
• Now add up the pleat pieces to get the total amount of fabric per pleat (front pleat + 2 side inverts + back pleat). For mine it was: 3 1/2" front pleat + 2" for inverts + 2" back pleat = 7 1/2" fabric per pleat.
• Multiply the number per pleat by the number of pleats you are making per side. Mine: 7 1/2" x 4 = 30".
• Now add your seam allowance (5/8" to each side = 1 1/4") This is your total fabric length per side. YAY! Mine: 30 + 1 1/4" = 31 1/4".
• Half that number and you get the number you will measure when the fabric is folded in half. Mine: 15 5/8".

Okay, THAT IS LONG!!! Trust me it's not that complicated but it makes more sense if you follow the pictures below too!

Folded back out, each side should look really wide because you will be gathering it into pleats.

Step 4: Pin your pleats into place. I just love box pleats, don't you?!

Step 5: Use a basting stitch to set the pleats into place (about 1/2 inch seam). Press pleats.

Step 6: Sew the two sides of the skirt together.

Step 7: Sew both sides of both sets of yokes together (you should have two yoke bands like the picture below).

Step 8: Attach one yoke band to the skirt lining up the side seams of the skirt and yoke (remember skirt stays right side out and yoke is inside out).

 

Step 9: Zipper Time!!! Fold up the sewn on yoke, and determine where you want your zipper to hit. on the yoke. REMEMBER that you still need 5/8 inch seam allowance to add the inside yoke pieces and room for a clasp if you want one. Then install a zipper of your choice. (I did an invisible zipper on this one and simply followed the instructions on the zipper package.)

Step 10: Now attach the other yoke to the top of the first yoke.

Step 11: Fold this 2nd yoke inside the skirt. Under-stitch if desired to keep it in place (the little stitching you see on the top of the yoke in the picture below is the under-stitching).

Step 12: You can either hand stitch the bottom of the inside yoke in place or you can uses the stitch-in-the-ditch technique on your machine (here's a good tutorial). I did the stitch-in-the-ditch technique for the black and white one.

Step 13: Finally, hem that baby to the length you desire and press the seams! I did a hand blind hem.... it took crazy long! Just saying. I would recommend doing a machine blind hem if your thread matches really well. 

 

Just another beautiful skirt completed! And while camping no less... I know you can do it too!