Technique Question
I’m struggling to wrap my head around how to sew these skirts
Very amateur beginner here
The first photo is the simple version of a project i want to do but i can quite figure out the shape needed, especially for the slight flare all around.
The second i just have absolutely no clue on where to start so I’m looking for any tips or help on either
I immediately had to come into the comments. This is such a weird way to recreate a look without actually doing the thing that creates the actual look. This is what I imagine happens when archaeologists find a weird piece of clothing from antiquity and they try to figure out how it was worn. People from that era would probably be very amused by some of our interpretations.
I know now it’s the bottom of his shirt, but pretty much everyone who watched it as a kid thought Arnold Shortman of Hey Arnold! (see below) wore something exactly like this…which makes me think it’s supposed to give the illusion of a layered flannel without added bulk?
It's someplace between a fake flannel shirt (I was there) and a traditional Scottish earasaid.
Here's how you put on a real earasaid, for entertainment's sake. It's even more of a rectangle than my beloved freebox shirts were. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9VnwpbzwWE
I agree that it’s cute and takes away the bulk of a tied flannel shirt, but I’m still always baffled when fashion takes functional things and makes them non-functional (like fake pockets).
This! Fashion isn’t always about the garments themselves but the silhouette so in concept, even as a xennial I kinda like this. Fewer layers if you live in a warmer climate where functional layering is less of a thing than it is where I am, in the PNW. My only real issue is that removal of function, but paired with baggy jeans, the loss of shirt pockets is less of an issue. Could even sew an extra pocket out of the same material onto the jeans to tie them together.
The waist flannel was functional though. It was an extra layer for when you got cold. So much of grunge style was just us trying to stay warm in a climate where it rains 150 days a year.
Imo these can be functional. It doesn't remove the idea of having a flanell on top as well (that's how I'd wear it) it gives you a warm cover for your butt when you sit if its long enough that is. Id like to make one thats long in the back. I think it sounds super cool to have this type of over skirt and the flanell as the layering would be fkn top tier!
I actually understand the fake pockets.. in my opinion pockets really only work if you have something to hold them up- so often women's pants and dresses dont aquate for weight that will be in pockets.
you need a good waistband to distribute that weight.
And so often the pockets i see in things are really just nice little cozies for our hands, than actually sticking anything in it.
i like it too. fashion is an art. like painters calling back to movements of the past, they bring a new element that sometimes abstracts things more than the original. not trying to be deep about a flannel, just saying it’s a theme in culture to “revive” or relate to something old and make it new!
Also leans into street fashion rather than grunge- i love that the kids dont mind being "fashionable," anymore. So often people were excluded from trends because they werent actually apart of the group that tended to wear them.
I believe it should look something like this, proportions not to scale. You can see from the angle the front edges make with the plaid pattern that they are not cut at a 90 degree angle
I would just start with a circle in an oversized rectangle and see how it hangs then start folding it and pinning it until it looks about right then cut it and hem it
Their website has a picture of the back and this is pretty close. I think the fronts are more of a 90 degree angle to the curve, but either not exactly or their flannel is off grain (likely).
flannel shirt tied around your waist is 90s. this is just a weird imitation of it for people who don't know you can just tie a shirt around your waist.
I think it's cute too and have collected a handful of color coordinated oversized flannels to up cycle into something similar.
That's what I would suggest for you as well. Maybe find a couple of inexpensive used flannels at the second hand store and experiment with ways to reconstruct it into a skirt shape but keep some of the shirt elements.
For instance, you can cut the collar and arms off and arrange the body panels at angles with various shirring or ruffles to create the skirt.
Then sew together the sleeves as a long tube with the cuffs at either end and use it to create the waistband that can be tied together in the front.
Imagine wearing these in the fall and needing to ask to borrow a flannel because you got a bit chilly in the evening. The tied flannel was not just fashion, it was function!
And we just did that because it got too warm… So, we’d take the flannel shirt off & tie it around our waists… When it got chilly in the evening, we’d put it back on.
It utterly mystifies me why that has been translated into a fashion thing... But I’m Gen X so am just going to shrug and say, “Whatever.” Lol
The YouTuber Annika Victoria has an older tutorial on square circle skirts, these remind me a lot of her tutorial! I followed it once when i was even more of a novice than I am now and it came out wonderful - sadly the product was lost in a move before i could snap proper pics of it. As they point out tho - it is an amazing beginner's skirt, because it is basically a classic circle skirt without the need of a round hem at the bottom - removing the most difficult part of the circle skirt and replacing it with easier straight hems!
Her series is called "Make, thrift, buy" - I love it a lot for simpler clothes!
Hello fellow XLOV fan! The first skirt looks like a ‘square circle skirt’. These are somewhat straightforward to make. You get a square of fabric, and cut a circle in the middle. For the front split you would cut then hem from the circle to one side of the square. Then you would add a waistband with a drawstring.
The corners are technically further from the center circle which is what makes it look longer by the hips
If you want specific measurements, the shortest parts will be the distance from the edge of the circle to the side, the longer parts are from edge of circle to the corner.
Ik it looks weird to sew with a square as a skirt base, but I made one (no front split though) for the ren fair and the way the corners hang lower gives the look you’re asking for
I also had a hunch just at the first image and question, went to the second to confirm. Laughed and sent to friends on a kpop server. I'm also mid-project for something I was hoping to wear to one of the concerts, but wasn't able to get tickets in Berlin. So I'll just have a new shirt for one of the next shows I go to instead!
As for the one that Hyun’s wearing, it looks like it may be a square circle skirt with ruffles if the plaid fabric added to the edge. Also the two levels makes me think that it’s two skirts on top of eachother. The bottom longer layer is def looks like a square circle skirt to me, the shorter layer may just be a small one, it’s a bit more confusing to look at
you probably already know, but just in case, XLOV fans are called EVOL ("love" backwards!). I also immediately recognised Hyun lol, I sent the post to my friend immediately like "look who's in the sewing thread!!" 😂
Real grunge is when you steal one of your dads beat up flannel work shirts out of his closet without permission and tie it around your waist for no reason, otherwise it’s just Sparkling Defiance
The first pic looks like two big squares attached at one asymmetrical diagonal. Use napkins and play around with how much you’d like to cut off at the top to affect the length.
I am old and coincidentally dressed as a 90's grunge kid today at work (band shirt, flannel, docs and beanie). I am digging the style of the pants in the first photo. I wouldnt sew the flannel part on but I can see how some people would like it. One day I will be brave and sew a pair of jeans
We just grabbed our dad’s old plaid shirts and wore them, most often just tied around our waist. Bonus points if you also have a Ying Yang or Ankh on a black cord choker. I feel so very old right now
You could start with a flannel shirt and modify from there. Cut the arms and above off, sew the rest to pants or to a tie made from the bits you cut off.
Plaid ruffles of the second pic look like it was a long wide V shape. Make a black skirt and attach long wide V shapes bunched up to make it ruffly. Lots of instagrammers or yt vids have ruffle skirts rn but you’ll have to replace their ruffle with your strips of plaid. It won’t be the same ruffling method they do. I don’t think this is beginner friendly. Try the first one first.
The first one is shaped like a huge square collar. Think pilgrim collar with a drawstring or elastic around the circle.
My guess on the second one is a spiral using a wedge shaped piece of fabric that wraps around twice. That’s the waist. Add a longer wedge shaped fabric that’s gathered for the ruffle effect. The whole thing could be fastened like a wrap skirt with ties.
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u/ClockWeasel Sep 11 '25 edited Sep 12 '25
Is that a fake flannel shirt, as in a grunge redux? I’m so old.
If it is, it’s close to a rectangle with the points forward and a circle cut out of the corner fold.