Day to Night Reversible Scallop Skirt Tutorial with Guest Megan Nielsen

so excited to share today's guest blogger with you all today! when i saw her adorable tutorial i got super excited! megan nielsen is here today with us to share a tute for the day to night reversible scallop skirt! you may have seen a few of these popping up here and there if you're into fashion! i'm super excited that megan decided to whip up a tute for us all so we can make our very own!!!!


i adore megan. she is one of the loveliest, sweetest, funniest & stylish bloggers i've had the chance to become friends with. when i first started sewing her easy to follow tutorials were super inspiring and her maternity refashions/tutes were invaluable. her readers (including me) watched as she took the leap into starting her own fashion line and pattern business and she hasn't looked back since! her first 2 lines were ahhhhhmmmmmaaazing!!!!! (find all her collections here) so gorgeous!! and her new spring/summer line will not disappoint - trust me...i got a sneak preview! love it!!!


even though megan's got a successful and busy fashion line she's still blogging. you can find her on her blog "design diary" where she shares her outfits, fashion tips, tutorials, sewing tips & craft projects. she also has a 2nd blog called "diy maternity" where all her maternity tutorials and sewing tips are featured along with other readers as well. you should check it out! it's an awesome resource!


so without further ado...let's get whipping up some scallop skirts! let's hear from this fashionable, fun mommy of 2 -megan....

Hi everyone!! My name is Megan Nielsen and I'm a designer and mom of 2. I was so excited when Shannon asked me to share a tutorial for Team Sewing! (that's right I just gave us a name, matching tshirts are coming next hehe).

I had a tough time figuring out what to sew - because well, I love sewing and there were a lot of things I wanted to do! But I'm so thrilled with this project, and I really hope you like it as much as I do! It's a reversible scallop hem skirt - that I'm calling the Day to Night skirt. The perfect little skirt to take you from day to night, or work to play. I made mine with a fun bright side and a darker serious side. I love it, and I've already spent too much time trying it on with everything else in my wardrobe!

Want to make one with me?

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 different fabrics - 2/3 to 1 yard of each


• a cup or round object to use as a stencil


• contact paper (the kind you use to cover books or line drawers)


• elastic for the waistband (I used 1" wide, but if I did it again I think I'd use 2" wide)


• a pen


• rulers

All seam allowances of 1/2"

What to do:

1) The first thing we'll have to do is cut our 2 fabrics. We will basically be cutting 2 rectangles. Where the height will be the length of the skirt but seam allowance, and the width will be your hip measurement plus ease plus seam allowance. is measure our hips. But (you might know this already) when we say hips in sewing, we don't really mean hips, we mean the widest part of your lower body - for me that's across my butt and thighs. Add on 4 inches to this measurement if you'd like a skirt with a nice amount of moving room - if you'd like a tighter fitting skirt, Add on about 2 inches. This measurement is the width of your fabric. So for example, my hip measurement was 39" so I cut my fabrics to be 43" wide.

2) Fold your fabric in half width ways with the right sides together. Then sew along the side seam. Basically we will be creating 2 tubes.

3) Head over to your iron, and iron those seams open

4) Turn one of the tubes the right way round and place it inside the other tube (so now the right sides will be facing each other). Pin, and then sew a row of basting stitches 1/2" from the edge

5) Now lets make our scallop edge stencil!! I tried a couple of ways to do this, and I found the easiest thing to do was to use contact plastic - that way you can stick it to your fabric, and have an easy guide! Lay out your contact plastic with the paper side upwards. Place your glass so that the edge of the glass lines up with the edge of the paper, and trace half way round. Do this all the way along the edge, butting up the glass to the edge of the last half circle and the edge of the paper. I chose to make deep scallops, but if you want more shallow ones, just overlap your half circles rather than butting them up.

6) Cut your stencil out and remove the paper backing. Stick it to your skirt, so that the edge of the scallops line up with your basting stitches.

7) Sew around the stencil as close as you can to the edge without actually sewing on it. But if you do, don't freak out!! It'll still come off, it just means that you'll probably rip your stencil a bit and it might not be as re-usable.

8 ) Peel off your stencil carefully, and stick it back on the backing paper so that you can use it again.

9) Cut inbetween the scallops, as close as you dare to the stitches, without actually cutting them.

10) Trim the excess fabric around the scallops. I used pinking shears, because they're basically like cutting neat little notches around the edge - but you could just as easily just trim very close to the stitches and achieve the same result.

11) Now turn your skirt the right way round, so that the right sides of both fabrics are facing outwards. Using your hand, "push" out the scallops and shape them with your hands.

12) Move over to the iron, and press them nice and crisply. Spend some time doing this properly, because the neater and more evenly you do it, the better your skirt will look.

13) Measure your waist and subtract 4" from that number. Cut your elastic to be this long.

14) Now we're going to sew the elastic case. Sew a line of stitches 1 3/4" from the raw edge of the top of the skirt.

15) Over at your iron again, fold in1/4" on both fabrics and iron. Then pin them together, and top stitch as close to the edge as you dare, making sure that you leave at least a 2" gap so you can thread your elastic through.

16) Thread your elastic through, and sew the ends together.

17) Sew up the gap in the top of the skirt. Then sew 2 lines of top stitching on top of the elastic, stretching as you sew. This is basically just to give the waistband a neater look, and keep the elastic in place.

18) Once you've done that you may notice that the elastic has stretched out a bit. Don't' stress!! Just spritz the waist band with some water and press it with your iron a few times, and your elastic will recover.

19) There is no 19!! You're done!!

Enjoy your fun reversible skirt!!

megan - luv ya girl! i'm sending giant cups of coffee, spa dates and hugs your way!!!! thanks so much for being part of comfy sews VS cozy knits! i'm loving this skirt!!! want some more megan nielsen? you can find her here:

*website *blog *shop *facebook *twitter

any of you been wanting a scalloped skirt? what fabric/color would you make one in? make sure you link up your posts or pics here in the comments...i love seeing and hearing about what you are all making!