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Full Circle Skirt: Make a Circle Skirt Pattern!

The Full Circle Skirt. We love them right? That fab swooshy noise from the fabric swishing around our legs. Circle skirts are great either long or short, and can be high waisted to define our waist, or sit lower down, resting on our hips.

Circle skirts of all kinds work in so many different fabrics too, so you can make them easily enough in a different fabric for whichever part of the world you happen to be living in! 🙂

A short silk or cotton circle skirt for those sunny days in warmer climates or longer circle skirts of heavier fabric for chilly winter days. A DIY circle skirt is a win either way!

And if you’re a fan or short and flirty circle skirts, then learning how to draft a godet and sew one in can be a great way to make more circle skirts!

But… just how easy is it to make a circle skirt pattern? The answer is VERY, but I also went ahead and made a free circle skirt pattern template too for those how don’t want to try their hand at the maths!

Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you make a purchase.

Making a Circle Skirt Pattern

When it comes to making your own circle skirt pattern, you’re going to need two key measurements for the circle skirt math.

Circle Skirt Measurements

  1. Your waist measurement. This is where you want the skirt waistband to sit on your body.
  2. Your desired finished length. This is the point where you want the skirt to fall to, on your leg.

You’re going to need to work out which measurement system you’ll be using too. I’m using metric (centimetres) as that’s what I grew up with, but feel free to work in imperial (inches) if that’s your thing!

Then of course, there is also seam allowance to consider. I use 1 cm seam allowance for woven fabrics and 7 mm for knit fabrics. You get to decide on yours, but please be sure to keep it consistent!

To clarify – in the fashion industry, 1cm is standard for wovens, but in the home sewing / dressmaking world, 1.5cm is standard.

What You Need To Make A Full Circle Skirt

  1. Two tape measures (a good one and a tatty one)
  2. Pencil (my choice is always a 4H)
  3. Pattern master / long ruler
  4. Pattern paper
  5. Push Pin
  6. Thread to match your fabric
  7. A Sewing machine or hand sewing needles
  8. Paper scissors
  9. Fabric scissors
  10. Pins
  11. An invisible zipper
  12. A calculator
  13. Fabric

It is quite unlikely that you will fit a full circle skirt pattern onto fabric that is less than 140cm wide. Unless you have a wasp waist and plan to have your circle skirt SUPER SHORT! 😉 So be prepared to search for fabric that is wide enough if you plan to cut the skirt in one piece with no seams!)

Now, one thing to remember, this may all seem stupidly complicated when you first read through it, but I promise you, making a circle skirt pattern really isn’t as hard as it seems.

Let’s start with circle skirt pattern maths!

Circle Skirt Formulas

The next section covers the maths involved in drafting a full circle skirt pattern, but if you’re thinking of making:

  • Half circle skirt
  • Three quarter circle skirt
  • ⅓ circle skirt
  • Quarter circle skirt

Then go check our the circle skirt formula post I wrote – which has a guide to measurements needed for each circle skirt type!

Circle Skirt Pattern Maths

What is Pi? Find the radius for your circle Skirt Pattern - The Creative Curator

Yep – you DID read that right. We now have to do math in order to create a pattern for our full circle skirt. We’re firstly concerned about pi. The Pi symbol looks like this: π and has a numerical value attached to it.

Pi is = 3.141592653589793238462

We will need to use this ‘number’ to work out the radius of our waist. Don’t worry though, we’re going to round it up, to just 3.14!

What is a radius?

Anatomy of A Circle - Make A Circle Skirt Pattern - The Creative Curator

To understand radius, we’ll start with the diameter.

The diameter is the measurement from one side of a circle to the other, as a straight line, crossing through the centre.

The image below better shows which part of the circle the diameter is.

Circle Diameter - A Circle Skirt Pattern - The Creative Curator

The radius then, is half the length of the diameter, from the very centre of the circle to the outer perimeter, as seen in the image below.

The Radius of a Circle - Also your waist! - The Creative Curator

And since we’re talking about all things circular, the circumference is the measurement of the circle’s outside edge, the perimeter.

Circle Circumference - Making a Circle Skirt Pattern - The Creative Curator

Phew! That wasn’t as complicated as you thought right? 😉

Why Do We Need The Radius?

The reason we need to know the radius when making a circle skirt pattern is so that we know how big a circle we need to cut for our waist. Think of that radius being our waistline on the circle skirt pattern!

Now, the method you use will differ depending on what type of circle skirt you want to make. In this post we are ONLY looking at a full skirt circle pattern. I’ll cover a half circle and 3/4 circle skirt pattern later on! So be sure to check the right section below so that you make the pattern correctly! 🙂

How To Find The Radius

Now, this is where the circle skirt maths gets a little trickier. Grab your calculator and work through the next sections with me, just so that you become familiar with the process of working out the maths for a circle skirt pattern!

Here’s a formula that we use to find the radius:

Circumference (C) divided by pi (π = 3.141592653589793238462) = diameter. And of course, the diameter (D) is the radius (R) x 2!

You then need to also consider the seam allowance amount you will use. When factoring in seam allowance, remember that you need to add seam allowance to the waistline (to attach the facing too) and again to any seams that you have running from the waist to the hem – this wouldn’t apply if you are planning to make the skirt in one piece, but you’d need a very large and wide piece of fabric to achieve that. Most circle skirts have side seams at least.

Full Circle Skirt

A full circle skirt is made up of one entire piece of fabric OR it can be cut as multiple pieces which when stitched together at the seams make a full circle skirt.

You can see from the image below:

  1. Bold lines are the ‘stitch lines’ of the circle skirt pattern
  2. Dotted lines are the edge of the seam allowance, the parts of the circle skirt that get turned under as part of the hem.
A full circle skirt pattern - The Creative Curator

This is what your circle skirt pattern will look like when complete, whether as one piece or as sections that are seamed together!

Cut as One Piece (No Seams)

To create a pattern that will be cut as one whole piece you need to follow these steps:

Step 1 – Finding the circle skirt diameter: 

  1. Take your waist measurement = C (this is the spot on your waist that you would like the circle skirt to sit at.)
  2. My natural waist is 86cm all the way around.
  3. C ÷ π = D
  4. Breaking that circle skirt formula down to…
  5. 86 ÷ 3.14 = 27.38cm

Step 2 – Finding the circle skirt radius:

Now that we have the diameter we can more easily figure out the radius needed for our circle skirt pattern.

  1. D ÷ 2 = R
  2. My radius is: 27.38 ÷ 2 = 13.69cm

So the radius of my waistline is 13.69cm which for you imperial peeps is almost 5.5 inches!

As I will be cutting this circle skirt in one whole piece of fabric I will use this measurement only, along with the length of the skirt.

Remembering of course that the length is controlled by the total fabric width!

How do we know how wide the fabric will be?

There’s a rather daft way of cutting out a circle skirt doing the rounds online, which includes folding the fabric over so many times and then cutting as you see fit. That’s a daft thing to do, and not what any pro would do! Why?

When we fold fabric over, that ‘fold’ is adding a little bit extra of fabric that we haven’t accounted for. If we have multiple folds for multiple layers to make it ‘easier and faster’ to cut, we will end up with even more unaccounted fabric. Which means that our skirt will come out bigger than planned, and so won’t actually fit us properly!

In order to make a circle skirt pattern properly, please do the following:

  1. Measure the width of your chosen fabric NOT including the selvedges. Mine = 137cm
  2. Now take the diameter (NOT the radius) we came to earlier in Step 1. Mine = 27.38cm
  3. We then take this amount away from the total width:

137cm – 27.38cm = 109.62cm

Total available fabric width (minus) diameter of my waist = amount remaining

Now this is the amount of fabric remaining for the length of the circle skirt centre front, the length of the centre back and the hem allowance. I’ll go for 50cm finished length!

How Much Seam Allowance And Hem?

My hem allowance would vary depending on the fabric selected but for simpler maths let’s say that it is 2cm so there’s enough for a double turned hem on this circle skirt.

For the seam allowance on the waistline’ i’ll add 1cm so that a faced waistband can be added.

  1. 2 + 1 = 3cm
  2. 109.62 – 3 = 106.62cm

Now, let’s divide 106.62 by 2 and we have our finished skirt length and we have: 105.62 / 2 = 53.31cm

This means if I choose to cut my circle skirt as a full circle skirt from just one piece of fabric, the length of the finish skirt cannot be longer than 53.31 centimetres.

Finding The Circle Skirt Length On Your Body

To see how this length works on your body, take your tape measure and measure from your waist (the point on your waist that you measured earlier to get your radius!) and down your body to the finished length. You may find it easier to have someone else do the measuring for you!

Is this long enough for YOU?

If it isn’t, there are things you can do to make the circle skirt longer. You could add banding along the hem to extend the circle skirt length. You could add trimmings. But the key thing to note is that this is the maximum length you will be able to achieve cutting a full circle skirt in one piece of fabric!

Drafting The Full Circle Skirt Pattern As One Piece

Now that we have all the measurements we need, we can get started on drafting the full circle skirt pattern!

  1. Lay a rather large piece of paper on your work table – it needs to be as wide as the fabric you are going to be using, so if your paper is not as wide as your fabric, be sure to tape some together. As we are making a circle skirt pattern, it would be ideal to have the paper squared.
  2. Find the centre of this piece of paper and mark it with a cross.
  3. Draw a line from this centre point with your metre rule, going in both directions, as far along as you can until you reach the papers edge.
  4. Now, find the centre point that you marked in step 2 and measure the radius amount along this line. My radius was 13.69cm so at this point I will add another mark to the line.
  5. Now for the fun part. Take your SCRAPPY tape measure and use the push pin to make three small holes in the scrappy tape measure! One at the 1cm line, another at the radius amount line + 1cm. Eg. As my radius is 13.69 + 1cm = 14.69cm. This leaves my radius as the amount in between the two holes. The third hole is the length of the skirt pattern. My finished length is 54cm so I will make this hole at 55cm (54 + 1 = 55).
  6. We’ve added the 1cm to each number as we are using the 1cm point on the tape measure rather than the 0 point, and need to account for that! 😉
  7. Place the tape on the paper. Put the push pin through the hole at the 1cm mark and place this at the centre point on the pattern.
  8. Take up your nice sharp pencil and place the point through the hole on the tape measure at the radius hole.
  9. VERY CAREFULLY, keep the pin pushed into the pattern paper so that it doesn’t move and bring the tape measure taut using the pencil in the hole. Don’t try to stretch it, we want the circle skirt pattern to be consistent, without errors, so that this ‘waistline’ works!
  10. Now you get to draw the first circle, maintaining the same even pressure on the tape so that you are creating a perfect circle that should match your waistline!
  11. Once this is complete, use your good tape measure to check that the circle is consistent in size from the centre point. You could also measure the circumference of this circle by using your tape measure on its edge, and see whether it is close to your waist measurement!
  12. Next, place the pencil on the second mark on the tape measure and draw the circle skirt hemline, again maintaining an even pressure on the push pin, pencil and tape. Check the measurement from the centre point is consistent.
  13. The very last job to do is to add seam allowance to the waistline of the circle skirt pattern, and of course the seam allowance to the hem line. You can then cut out your circle skirt pattern! Yay!

I put together this diagram to explain it – I hope it makes sense and helps you to understand all of that in a visual way!

Make your own full circle skirt pattern using this diagram - The Creative Curator

And now…

Full Circle Skirt in Sections

If your fabric isn’t wide enough to cut a full circle skirt out in one piece, we will need to cut sections and seam them together.

There are several options here but the three simplest would be:

  • Cut two half circles which will require two side seams
  • Cut one half circle and two quarter circles which will use two side seams and a centre back or centre front seam.
  • Cut four quarter circles and have four seams; two side seams, centre front seam and centre back seam.

Phew! Are you still with me?

So, now we get to make our circle skirt longer as we have more fabric width to use! Yay!

For now, I will show you how to make the circle skirt pattern for a full circle skirt made out of two half circles.

A Full Circle Skirt Pattern In Two Halves

The great thing about making your circle skirt in two halves is that you can have the skirt twice as long as when it is cut in one piece, as the fabric width will dictate the length of ‘half’ the circle skirt. Yay!

The problem though, is that you will need to buy twice the amount of fabric however, as you will now need twice the length.

  1. Draft your circle skirt pattern as before, but this time you can go much longer, as your fabric width will now determine the maximum length of the skirt.
  2. Fold the pattern PERFECTLY in half down the centre.
  3. Add your chosen amount of seam allowance, along the straight ‘side seams’ and of course the waistline and hem.
  4. Place the straight edge of the circle skirt pattern along the selvedge.
  5. Cut out the pattern piece twice so that you have two semi-circles.
  6. Think about how you will get into the circle skirt – will you have a side seam zipper? An exposed zipper on the centre front or centre back?
  7. There should be plenty of fabric left over to create facing pattern sections for the waist line.
  8. Finally, don’t forget to hem the skirt. You could go for a simple turned hem. A pin hem. Or add on a trim of some sort to snazzy it up even more. Enjoy!

What Not To Do

Things you SHOULD NOT do when making a circle skirt include:

  1. Don’t choose polyester over cotton just because you dislike ironing.
  2. Don’t fold a square of fabric in half and then half again and think that’ll do the job. It won’t. Please make the pattern properly. It will last you much much longer! 🙂
  3. Do NOT mark a line in permanent ink on the fabric ‘by sight’ to make a quarter-circle cut out for your waist.
  4. PLEASE don’t just ‘fold up a couple of centimetres’ as you sew your hem. It is a CIRCLE – this means the hem will go through straight grain, cross grain and the bias, and so will stretch and be wonky on occasion. You’ll need to hem the circle skirt properly for it to look great!

RELATED CONTENT:

How to make a gathered rectangle skirt

Full Circle Skirt Examples

There are quite a few circle skirts available to buy online, such as these from Vivienne of Holloway and Alice & Olivia.

Circle Skirt Inspiration - The Creative Curator

John Galliano has never been one of my favourite designers, but this collection for Dior in 2011 has some rather fabulous circle skirts contained within.

Circle Skirt Inspiration - John Galliano for Dior 2011 Couture - The Creative Curator

How To Wear Your Circle Skirts

There are different ways to wear your circle skirt of course, depending on the type of fabric you choose to make it in, and the colour and detailing too.

Pair it with a simple silk blouse for the office, a fitted lace tank for something more suited to a night out, dare I say it – A CROP TOP – for something a little more avant-garde, a fitted tailored jacket or a knitted twins et for something a little bit more traditional.

However you decide to wear it, I would love to see photos of the finished piece, and how you choose to style it up!

Share to Pinterest or Facebook below!

Em

Sunday 13th of September 2020

The best explanation I've seen and I've looked for a long time!! Thank you so much!!! If I need to cut the circle skirt in 4 pieces, how should I place the grainlines for each??

Eve Tokens

Wednesday 30th of September 2020

Hi Em! Amazing - so glad to hear that it has helped! I always cut my pieces so that the very centre of each (from waist to hem) is the straight grain. It does mean that the seams will be off the straight grain, but you can tape them before sewing to minimise distortion! Hope that helps!

RJ

Sunday 10th of May 2020

Hi there! I am working on this pattern now. I want to verify the length of fabric I need to purchase. The width of my fabric is 57" and I will be using the full width. Do I then purchase equal the amount in length? I cannot find clear instruction on this, but it is what I intuit. I would appreciate confirmation before I purchase my yardage! Thank you in advance.

Eve Tokens

Wednesday 30th of September 2020

Hi RJ! So sorry, only just saw this! Yes, if your fabric width is 57" and you want to use the full width, you'll want it to be the same in length too! Are you planning on cutting a circle skirt in one piece or will you have sections? If the latter, you'd then multiple the length by the number of sections; so if 57" was the total length for one quarter, you'd want 4x as much to be able to get four quarter pieces from it! Hope that makes sense and I wasn't too later in replying!

Georgia

Wednesday 4th of September 2019

I'm sure this is a daft question, but do I need make my skirt slightly longer at the back to make it the same length all the way round when it is on?

Eve Tokens

Thursday 3rd of October 2019

Hi Georgia! Never is there a daft question! I always say ask and get an answer rather tan wander through life uncertain! In theory yes, you would want to make the skirt a little longer to get a straight hem. But, some of us (looking at me specifically!) have a bigger tummy than a bigger bum! So, when I next make a circle skirt I would consider adding a little extra length to the front to cover the tummy! :)

Joyve

Friday 7th of June 2019

Very helpful. Thank you very much for the information

Eve Tokens

Wednesday 12th of June 2019

You're very welcome - glad it was helpful!

Pauline

Wednesday 17th of April 2019

Hi can you explain to me please I am making a floor length circular skirt I want it really full and flowing. Is there a difference between 1/2. 3/4. And full circle

Regards Pauline