Circle Skirts

You don’t need a block to make circle skirts, you just need your waist measurement (that includes ease) and do some math calculations.

You can also create frills using this same method; just use the measurement of the area to where the circle is attached rather than your waist measurement.

Below are some images of the circle skirts, giving an indication of the final shape and how the final pattern pieces compare to each other, as well as how the shapes of the A-line and flared skirts compare to the circle skirts.   This gives some idea of the comparative ease. For images on what the hem sweep and final garment looks like, see the Flats images on the individual pages.

Working Out Circle Skirts for your waist

The original equation for working out your waist radius for a circle skirt is:

• (waist ÷ 4) x (7 ÷11)

Given that equation, then you can work out the 3/4 circle using (waist ÷ 3) x (7 ÷11), and the half circle using (waist ÷ 2) x (7 ÷11).

However, the shortcuts I have provided work out the same (to a very minuscule fractional difference given that I am rounding to 2 decimal places).  These shortcuts are:

• For a circle skirt, divide your waist measurement (including ease) by 6.28
• For a three quarter circle skirt, divide your waist measurement (including ease) by 4.71
• For a half circle skirt, divide your waist measurement (including ease) by 3.14

Figure 2: Comparison of Full Circle, 3/4 Circle and 1/2 Circle Skirts

This is an examples of the final pattern pieces for a full circle, a 3/4 circle and a 1/2 circle skirts made for the same waist measurement and to the same length.

Figure 3: Comparison of Full Circle, 3/4 Circle and 1/2 Circle Skirts

In Figure 2 it is obvious that the full circle skirt shape is a quarter of a full circle, but if it isn’t obvious that the other two shapes end up as a 3/4 circle skirt and 1/2 circle skirt, I have made copies and rotated them to show their final shapes in this image.

Figure 4: Comparison of Circle Skirts & Flared Skirts

Here is a comparison of what the final pattern pieces of flared and circle skirts look like.