Bell skirt pattern

A bell skirt suits any woman. She looks equally good on a lady with curvaceous and a slender fairy. The reason is an amazing silhouette, tight-fitting, but at the same time, skillfully hiding the flaws of the lower part of the figure, if any. The pattern of the bell skirt is extremely simple, and even a beginner needlewoman can do it. How? - You will learn about this from the article.

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What is a bell skirt?

Before sewing a bell skirt, let's try to figure out what kind of style it is, how it differs from others. A bell skirt is one of those models that can be sewn without a pattern by marking directly on the fabric. But, if you are just starting to sew, it’s better to make a simple pattern, then you will feel more confident.

In general, there are several models that are cut in similar ways:

• the sun;
• half sun;
• bell.

The common feature of these models is that for all they need only two measures:

• waist circumference
• length of the product.

And they differ in the amount of fabric and the method of cutting:

• Skirts are the widest, such a skirt is a ring.
• Half sun - half ring with a shifted recess.
• The bell is actually a quarter of the ring. It is more tight-fitting than the sun or half-sun, and looks especially good if you sew it from a flowing fabric.

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We are building a pattern

Before you sew a bell skirt with your own hands, you need to make a pattern - more precisely, one of its segments, since the finished product will consist of two or four wedges, depending on the width of the fabric and the length of the skirt itself.

To build a pattern, you need:

• a large sheet of paper;
• a long line (the most useful thing is a tailor’s meter, which sellers use in fabric stores);
• a square (also tailor's is more preferable, but any other is also possible);
• compass;
• pencil.

Important! Any patterns are best built on graph paper, because there are all divisions and it is very easy to draw parallel and perpendicular lines. It is sold in rolls in office supply stores, as well as in branded sewing departments. But if there is no graph paper, you can take a large sheet of whatman paper, the remains of wallpaper and even a large-format newspaper. True, you have to first draw a basis - a large rectangle.

The procedure for compiling a pattern of a bell-skirt:

• Build a right angle, mark its vertex with some letter - for example, let it be A.
• Calculate the radius of the inner arc - it is equal to the circumference of your waist divided by 6.28. If you are already accustomed to using half-girths, as is customary with professional masters, you should divide the half-waist by 3.14.

Important! You can do it in an even simpler way - divide the half-circumference by 3 and subtract another 2 cm - the accuracy for such a product will be sufficient.

• From the point A indicated by you, put this radius on both sides of the corner and put points, for example, T and T1 - this designation indicates that these are the marks of the waistline.
• Connect the marks T and T1 with a smooth arc - this can be done manually, but it is much more convenient to take a compass.
• From the same marks, lay the product length on the sides of the corner.
• Put points H and H1 - that is, the bottom.
• Connect them with a smooth arc - a compass of this size is hardly at hand, so you have to draw it by eye.

Important! A compass can be made of a clerical button, a cord and a pencil - a cord, the length of which is equal to the length of the product, is pinned with a button to the top of the corner, and a pencil is tied to the free end.

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Choose a fabric

Sewing a bell skirt with your own hands for beginners will most simply be made of light plain fabric, which does not sit too much, crumbles a little, and besides, you do not need to adjust the pattern. In principle, any fairly lightweight materials are suitable:

• thin coat;
• wool with lavsan;
• raincoat fabric;
• silk;
• chiffon;
• crepe de chine;
• satin;
• knitwear.

Important! When working with cotton fabrics, shrinkage should be considered. Before sitting down for sewing, cotton (as well as linen) must be wetted and then dried with an iron. Accordingly - the material will need slightly more than what is required by calculation. As for silk, it tends to crumble, and this also needs to be taken into account.

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Fabric calculation

The bell skirt is slanting. To understand how much fabric is needed, you need to add ten centimeters to the length of the product - on the belt and bottom processing. If the cut is wide (140-150 cm), you will need 2 product lengths. If the fabric is narrow, we do the calculation according to the following algorithm:

1. We determine the approximate hem width (you can simply measure it by a pattern with a centimeter tape and multiply by 4, since you have one wedge out of four).
2. Compare the result with the cut width - if the bottom of the hem fits twice, we take 2 product lengths with an addition to additional parts, if once - 4 lengths).

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Sew a bell skirt

A bell skirt is sewn fast enough. You have to sew two or four seams, sew in a zipper, sew a belt and process the bottom. For this we need:

• the fabric itself;
• pattern;
• crayon (it is better to use a special one designed for sewing, but you can use an ordinary school one);
• a sewing machine with a needle matching the fabric;
• threads in color and quality of fabric;
• button or button;
• lightning.

If you sew a bell skirt from knitwear, it is better to take a special needle. As for the threads, then the principle is simple:

• silk is sewn by silk;
• cotton, wool and mixed fabrics - cotton;
• polyester and other artificial materials - synthetic.

Important! Before you start sewing, do not forget to adjust the machine and test its progress on the shred.

We cut a bell skirt

Do not forget to leave allowances for the seams - you can make them right on the pattern, building it first strictly by standards, and then outlining the contour taking into account the allowances. But if you did not take care of this in advance, nothing bad will happen - you just leave the fabric allowances:

1. Fold the cut in half along the shared thread.
2. Overlay the pattern so that one of the lines of the wedge (for example, ATN) coincides with the fold.
3. Circle the wedge along the contour with allowance for allowances - their width depends on the quality of the fabric, but usually leave 0.7-1 cm, if necessary, then you can cut off the excess.
4. Cut out the remaining parts in the same way.
5. Cut out the details.

The belt is cut separately. This is just a strip:

1. Fold the fabric, as when cutting the skirt, along the share.
2. Put a dot on the edge.
3. Multiply the width of the belt by 2
4. From the mark, set the doubled width down.
5. To the side, perpendicular to the shared thread, set aside the length of the belt - full waist circumference plus an allowance for the fastener.

If there are two seams

Most often, a bell skirt is a two-seam. Seams are located on the sides. If everything is ready, you can start sewing. The zipper will be sewn on the left:

1. Sweep and grind the seam to the right.
2. Iron allowances on the sides, you can sew them immediately in the course of work.
3. Designate a place for lightning on the left side.
4. Stitch the left side seam from the bottom to the zipper and insert the zipper itself.
5. Sew large stitches along the seam of the belt.
6. Try on what you got.
7. Tighten the assembly line.

Sew on a belt

It is sewn in the same way as the belt of any other skirt:

1. Fold the strip in half, facing out.
2. Iron the fold.
3. Turn the part and grind short seams.
4. Corner allowances cut obliquely, if necessary.
5. Turn the part back out again.
6. Insert long allowances inside and iron.
7. Insert the edge of the top of the skirt between the layers of the belt, stitch and sew.
8. Make a welt loop and overcast it.

We make the bottom

Since not everyone has a large compass at home, and the design of a button, lace and pencil does not always give a smooth arc, the bottom must be aligned. This is best done with an assistant whose eye you trust. Try on a skirt and ask the assistant to see how smooth the hem turned out. Surplus must be cut. After that, fold the hem to 0.5 and 1 cm on the wrong side and sew it with a blind stitch manually or sew on a typewriter.

There are other processing options:

• the hem of a knitted bell skirt can not be hemmed, but processed with an overlock;
• on the bottom you can make a frill or fringing.

After that, you just have to iron your skirt, and you can go out!

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How to sew a pleated bell skirt?

This simple but always elegant model can also be pleated. Building a pattern, however, will take a little longer. The fabric will also need more.

Important! It is best to make a bell skirt with oncoming folds. They cover it in almost the same way as a simple model, but there is one caveat - the fold depth must be calculated in advance.

We do this:

1. As in the previous case, we add the cut along the fractional one.
2. On the bend side, we bend a strip equal to the depth of the oncoming fold (to get it even, you can stab it with pins or sweep it).
3. We impose a pattern so that one cut of the wedge coincides with the fold.
4. Circle with allowance and cut out.
5. We cut the back half in the same way if it is with the same oncoming fold, or as in the simple model, if the back is smooth.

The assembly order will also be slightly different:

1. Fold the folds (you can iron them for now, but just sweep them or stab them).
2. Stitch the right seam.
3. Sew the left seam to the zipper.
4. Sew a zipper.
5. Sew on the belt as in the previous case.
6. Iron the folds.
7. Handle the bottom.

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Stock footage

You can wear such a skirt with anything - with a T-shirt, with a strict jacket, with an English blouse. Shoes, too, will suit any - from model stilettos to slippers without a heel. In short, a bell skirt is one of those simple but elegant models that can be sewn in a couple of hours and without excessive effort.