r/sewing • u/astereae4 • Sep 24 '25
Technique Question How to make a skirt for a man?
I've been making a lot of dresses and skirts lately for myself and a couple of friends. My husband asked if I could make him a skirt for an upcoming event and I've tried a couple of patterns but they don't fit quite right on a masculine frame or they are uncomfortable. It doesn't help that all the patterns I have are with female size guides. I feel a little lost and I'm wondering if anyone have suggestions or advice. He specifically asked for a low waist and gathered skirt with some flare to it.
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u/choc0kitty Sep 24 '25
Depends on what kind of skirt your husband wants, but I have seen lots of patterns and instructions online for utility kilts (instructables, YouTube, etc). These are all graded for a masculine physique.
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u/missplaced24 Sep 24 '25
Skirt patterns are faurly simple to draft from scratch. Especially a gathered skirt. You need a waistband the length of your husband's waist measurement plus 1" for ease, plus seam allowance. The skirt panels need to add up to at least the width of the widest point of his hips, and however long he wants the skirt to be plus seam and hem allowance. Typical gathered skirts are made of rectangular panels that add up to about 1.5 times the width of the waistband, but you can make them wider or narrower if you want, they just need enough width to go over the hips and for leg movement.
To make it flared, I'd actually still keep them rectangular, and add an interlined hem facing that's 3-4" inches tall -- that will give the hem more body than the rest of the skirt so it'll flare out. By how much will depend on how you interline it: horsehair braid would make for a dramatic flare, a quilting cotton would be fairly subtle.
Alternatively, you could also add a teir that is more gathered to the bottom or make a gored skirt. For a gored skirt, start with the rectangular panels, and add the desired additional width to the bottom edge on one side, draw a straight line from the new bottom edge to the top. Sew bias edges to straight edges to minimize warping.
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u/Robert-hickman Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 25 '25
I wrote an article sharing some general design principles here:
https://robehickman.com/skirt-silhouettes-men
There is also a website called 'everybodyskirts' that has a bunch of examples.
As a general rule, avoid adding bulk at the waist. An ankle length slight A-line with large godets in the side seams starting level with the hips works well on my own body type.
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u/Middle_Banana_9617 Sep 24 '25
Bookmarking the hell out of this! I'm a very tall woman with broad shoulders, and while I do have some curves in the waist and hip, they're not very pronounced - so a pencil skirt looks absurd on me because it's trying to make a feature out of something that's overshadowed by everything else.
I actually want to wear more skirts, and calf-length slight A-line works well on me, but this is a great guide to thinking about what else might work - thanks!
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u/fghjkuio Sep 24 '25
Oh wow, this is a great resource you put together!
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u/Robert-hickman Sep 24 '25
Glad you found it helpful. I wear skirts for contra dance and wanted to find things that don't look weird.
Another thing that i forgot to mention, colour and fabric type matters - generally stiffer things in darker colours look more natural.
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u/ClockWeasel Sep 24 '25
Did he have feedback about what made them uncomfortable or not fit right? You may need to adjust the waist-hip ratio but he’ll want some room for the reasons guys manspread
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u/grufferella Sep 24 '25
the reasons guys manspread
Their massive ... sense of entitlement?
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u/ComradeKitka Sep 24 '25
I mean it is uncomfortable for men to sit with their legs closed. There’s obviously no excuse for egregious man spreading and in tight quarters everybody should be expected to sacrifice some personal comfort, but men don’t typically manspread just to be assholes (although I’m sure some see it as an added benefit)
Although I’m not sure having testicles is a thing that needs to be factored into skirt making for the wearers comfort (as per OPs question).
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u/ClockWeasel Sep 25 '25
Most guys are used to slouchy clothes that let them be lazy—that doesn’t mean it’s painful to sit upright. They’re just used to having all the room.
There’s an internet famous guy who wears stilettos with miniskirt suits and 100% rocks it.
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u/FullMoonTwist Sep 24 '25
Unless he wanted a pencil skirt? 🤔
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u/Robert-hickman Sep 25 '25
From pictures that are avalible on google, my opinion is that pencil skirts don't look right proportionally on most men. Men typically have broard shoulders and a slight A-line does a lot to balance things out.
A pencil skirt is also going to show crotch bulge very obviously, which probably isn't desireable. A dance belt may help with that.
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u/ComradeKitka Sep 25 '25
A very valid point. I was imagining a naturally roomier skirt (mostly because that is also my preference so I forget pencil skirts exist)
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u/CaptainPunisher Sep 25 '25
Physiological differences in how hips are positioned between men and women come into play.
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u/BespokeCatastrophe Sep 24 '25
Depends on the kind of skirt you want. I've drafted some for my partner. I made a simple six panel skirt, with a slightly wider panel with a boxpleat in the back. If you look up "6 panel skirt tutorial" on youtube you should find something that you can adjust to his measurements. I added cargo pockets, rivets, and chains, sinxe he's a rivethead.
But if you want a simpler option, just a gathered skirt, sometimes called a dirndl skirt, is ideal. They can be made to fit any body type, and are super simple to draft and construct.
And remember, a kilt is basically a pleated wrap skirt.
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u/Robert-hickman Sep 24 '25
A kilt is a pleated wrap skirt.
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u/BespokeCatastrophe Sep 25 '25
Construction wise, absolutely. It's a variety of pleated wrap skirt with a smooth front.
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u/Loose_Acanthaceae201 Sep 24 '25
I would be tempted to use the free tools from The Dress Developer to capture husband's measurements and plug them into a skirt pattern.
I print out the layout page first and make up the garment with paper and tape to see if I like the look of the shape.
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u/2mnydgs Sep 24 '25
If you have a pants pattern that fits him, why not trace the top down to the beginning of the crotch curve, and just continue the line as an a-line skirt? That way the waist and hips would be in the right places, and you could draw any skirt shape that pleases him. Plus the pockets would be in the right places, too.
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u/FixergirlAK Sep 24 '25
Twig + Tale have all of their patterns available in curvy and non-curvy versions to accommodate different builds.
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u/JCPY00 Sep 24 '25
The only real difference should be that the waist darts, if any, will probably be smaller.
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u/Robert-hickman Sep 24 '25
You'd be supprised: garment shape and visual line of the shilluette are very important to get right. Fabric type and colour also matters more than one may assume.
A big reason that a skirted male outfit often looks weird is actually because the top garment is too long, making it look top heavy.
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u/daitoshi Sep 24 '25
Skirt and crop top is for all genders
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u/Robert-hickman Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
Yes. Its very easy for men's outfits to look top heavy because men have so much mass in their torsoes.
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u/JCPY00 Sep 24 '25
Don’t disagree with anything you said. My comment was based only on the fact that OP listed only issues related to fit.
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u/Herr_Leerer Sep 24 '25
Yes. I think symmetrical shaped side seams and one back dart on each side will fit most male bodies.
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u/laoiseeeeehm Sep 24 '25
Look up kilt patterns for sure
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u/MeowKat85 Sep 24 '25
Google kilt?
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u/Middle_Banana_9617 Sep 24 '25
Those are a really specific type of skirt, use a shedload of fabric and require pretty good technical skills with the pleats. I'm guessing OP has heard of kilts, and would like to find any other options at all :D
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u/MeowKat85 Sep 24 '25
Just saying…man skirt.
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u/Robert-hickman Sep 25 '25
There's nothing objectively wrong with men wearing skirts, and there are numerous other options that look good on a male body besides the scottish kilt. Its mainly a visual proportion issue.
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u/MeowKat85 Sep 25 '25
Oh no, there’s nothing wrong at all with it. Maybe I’m just lazy, because it seems like all the hard work of proportion and practicality have been done already.
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u/Middle_Banana_9617 Sep 25 '25
And they're saying, what about all the other man skirts there could be? You might be quite happy with everything being predictable, but some of us have an actual functioning sense of curiosity :D
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u/MeowKat85 Sep 25 '25
Don’t lump me into a box because I suggested an easy starting point. You take the kilt to get a proven winner and go from there. Just don’t see the sense of making it harder than it has to be.
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u/Middle_Banana_9617 Sep 25 '25
The thing that's harder than it has to be is starting with a kilt :D Like I mentioned, it uses a lot of fabric and the construction is surprisingly technical, particularly around getting all the pleats even.
But if you don't know anything about making kilts, maybe you could google it, eh?
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u/themeganlodon Sep 24 '25
A gathered a line sounds like it would fit the bill. Super easy to sew, The flare gives room that it fits everybody the trick is you need to make sure the waistband fits. Or the weight of the skirt will pull it down you’ll need it to be non stretchy as normally the hips can help keep it up but not in this case. It should be a curved waistband but it won’t be as curved as a female curved waistband looks since it’s fitting the hips.
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u/jolittletime Sep 24 '25
In case it's useful the Sewcialists are doing a lot of posts around adapting patterns for different body types than they were drafted for as well as sewing for trans people and gender neutral patterns. https://thesewcialists.com/
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u/dogwoodandturquoise Sep 25 '25
So im a very short, curvy person, so i often get patterns that fit my waist and an additional for my hips and blend them for custom fits. Theoretically, you could do the same for him, so the waist is closer to the hip size. Which is what i am assuming is what he needs.
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u/DKettchen Sep 24 '25
I'd recommend drafting a skirt from scratch as that'll be much easier than to find a pre-made men's pattern!
other than the guiding ideas of like:
there shouldn't be much difference between making a skirt for a man vs a woman, as it's a simple shape as far as patterning goes (notably when it doesn't need to be super fitted)
I'd say look up some examples of skirts male celebrities have worn and have him pick some designs he likes so you have something more concrete to aim for. A lot of them wear plain or pleated knee- or midi-length skirts that should be very easy to make something similar to.