Making your own flamenco skirt is tempting, but it's not that easy. The multiple panels and long hem mean you'll be sewing for hours! For practice and student recitals, a skirt like the Bal Togs flamenco skirt is perfect and only costs around $40 (see picture on right), so it's hard to see why you would give yourself so much grief!
Even if you're up for all that work, it's almost impossible to find a ready-made pattern. Go to your local fabric store and you may find some labelled 'flamenco skirt' - but chances are they're for fancy dress, and won't have nearly enough material for dancing, unless you don't mind showing your knickers!
If you really want to make your own, buy an ordinary 6-panelled skirt pattern. If you can find one with godets (triangles of material around the hem to make it flounce), even better. Godets in streetwear are normally quite small, so you'll probably need to make them longer for a flamenco skirt.
If you have an ordinary 6-panel skirt pattern, there are a few ways to modify it:
Option 1 - Shorten the pattern to just below the knee, then add ruffles to the hem. The number of ruffles will depend on how deep you make them.
# 2 - flared panel
This style will be similar to a sevillanas style skirt - just be careful it's not too tight around the thighs for dancing. If the original pattern was A-line rather than dead straight, it should be fine.
Option 2 - Flare the pattern for each skirt panel out at the base (see pic), then cut and sew as normal.
Option 3 - Add your own godets. Cut and sew the skirt as per the pattern, but leave the seams open from just above the knee. Measure the length of the slit, then cut godets of material with that as the length. Be warned - inserting the godets takes practice, and getting a straight hem once the dress is finished can be a challenge!
A few tips I learned the hard way:
1. If you line your skirt (which I recommend, even for practice skirts), sew both the outer and inner layers as if they were a single layer – you want the skirt to have some body, and having the lining move separately from the skirt doesn’t work too well.
2.
Sorry, somehow hit enter. So, part 2…
2. If you put ruffles on your skirt, be prepared to fit, refit, and refit, the top of your skirt to make it A LOT tighter than you would make a street-wear skirt, because the weight of the ruffles can pull your skirt down quite a bit. Another reason to follow tip 1 – you don’t want to have to alter both the lining and top fabric separately.
3. If you put ruffles on your skirt, DO NOT make them very long – my big mistake on my first skirt. The top ruffle is something like 15″ long. I lined it with poly taffeta, so it falls nicely, but the skirt weighs almost 4 pounds. Great for building up leg strength, but boy, is it heavy. And, when I put the skirt on the first time (before refitting), it slid south about 5 inches.
4. This may sound like overkill, but I line all of my ruffles. I tried one skirt, where I didn’t line the ruffle or the skirt, and everything looks really limp. The ruffles doesn’t fall nicely, even though I put edge trim on. Sometimes the ruffles stay flipped up, and I don’t like the look. And, if you line the ruffle with a fun, contrasting color, it provides a nice pop when you move. I recommend using something a little slippery (I like my fabric a little crisp too) like poly taffeta or some of the stiffer poly organzas, so that the ruffle doesn’t stick to the rest of the skirt and falls well.
5. I’m probably just paranoid, but I use sport-weight zippers (i.e. the ones with really heavy plastic teeth) and really heavy hooks and eyes to make sure that the weight of the skirt isn’t going to pull things apart as I move.
6. If you think you want to put bias binding or other trim on the ruffle edges, do it BEFORE you attach the ruffles to the skirt. Much easier to push all of the fabric through the sewing machine that way. And if you are making your own bias tape, make sure you cut it wide enough that you’ll be able to sew the 2nd seam using a machine. Made that mistake too, and ended up hand sewing the back edge of something like 20 yards of bias tape.
Hope these tips help. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but you get a skirt that fits you exactly and is in the precise color combo that you want. Heck, the opportunity to make myself some gorgeous costumes was part of why I started flamenco in the first place!
Thanks for the thorough tip, Pam! Personally, I don’t line my dresses – in fact, I had one professionally-made dress which was lined, and I ended up cutting all the lining out of it because it was too darn heavy.
I think it depends on the weight of the fabric you use, as well as personal preference.
I totally agree that the fabric makes all the difference. I have one costume made in Spain, and I think that the crespon, or whatever it’s made of, has a lot more poly in it or a different weave, because it is MUCH stiffer than anything I can get over in the States. I’d have to constantly starch and iron the fabrics I get here in order to match the stiffness of one layer of my Spanish skirt. Thus, I tend to line much of my skirts with poly taffeta to mimic the crispness a little. I’ve toyed with the idea of sticking fishing line at the edge of the ruffles, but I have to do some tests to see if that would make things too stiff. I do have plans, at some point, to go fabric shopping in Spain, but I have to work my fabric stash down some first. I have fabric for about 4 more flamenco skirts, and like many sewers and crafters, I have fabric and yarn for other stuff almost up to the ceiling.
That’s interesting, Pam – it never occurred to me there would be a difference in material from one country to another!
I have to admit, I get my dresses made by a local dressmaker, and she always edges the ruffles with satin bias binding. That seems to stiffen them up nicely.
Thank you for this fun article, but especially Pam for those tips! I make my own skirts because I can’t afford it otherwise. I don’t have a serger so have alway had to use stretch lycra-ish or material that doesn’t fray when cut to make my skirts. But I’ve bought yards upon yards of gorgeous fabric from double gorgette to lightlight poly and I think it’s time to tackle them! I usually just line my skirts from waist to mid thigh on the few poly skirts I’ve made. My super stretchy ones don’t get a lining. I tried using a rolled hem foot attachment for my machine but it’s not so great on very curved pieces. I think I’ll use bias, although the fear of buying/making 20yds always put me off.
I never would have thought of using taffeta or organza on a ruffle, I wish I could see how yours came out! Did it add much weight? I’m determined to make a ruffled skirt now, lol.
I can at least suggest a very flattering pattern for a dress like the one Reelgirl343 suggested: Butterick 4377. The waist is slightly dropped, with the bodice coming into a point and the skirt flares out to more than a circle, but does so gradually (it has godets / inserts between the skirt pieces which start halfway down the skirt. You can also leave these out to get a skirt that is still more than wide enough). The fit of the bodice is sublime and it’s a multi-size pattern. It is a medieval dress so you’ll need to raise the neckline and shorten the floor-length skirt, but if you’re prepared to do that, it’s fabulous!
Thanks so much for that tip, it sounds like that pattern is well worth trying.