There are two methods for making a two-piece full skirt: one is the conventional method, and the other is my unique lazy method. Currently, there is no historical evidence to support the existence of two-piece pleated skirts, so please consider this information critically and make your own decision.
➤ Fabric: 5 meters or 6 meters. This tutorial uses 5 meters of fabric.
Method One: Conventional Two-Piece
1. Cut two pieces of fabric, each 95 cm wide (your desired skirt length) and 2.5 meters long (5 meters divided by 2; if you want a 6-meter hem, the length should be 3 meters).
2. Fold the long edges of both pieces of fabric (the hem of the skirt) and finish the edges. Finishing the edges first prevents them from fraying later.
3. Pleat both pieces of fabric. The length of the waistband for the front piece should equal (waist circumference ÷ 2 + 15 cm), and the same applies to the back piece. You can leave about 15 cm at each end of the back piece unpleated, while the front piece should be fully pleated. This ensures that the overlapping parts of the front and back pieces do not look bulky and avoid making the hips appear wider.
Note: Some tutorials suggest making the waistband of the front piece 15 cm longer than the back piece. I have tried this method and found that it causes the pleats to slant and pile up, making the hips look larger. Therefore, I recommend making the waistbands of both pieces the same length and leaving the ends of the back piece unpleated. Try both methods and choose the one that suits you best.
4. Calculating the width of the pleats.
If you don't know how to calculate the length of the pleats, I found a formula developed by a predecessor. You can input the formula into an Excel spreadsheet for automatic calculation. If you don't know how to use Excel, search for it on Baidu.
5. After pleating both pieces, sew the sides together, leaving 15 cm at the top unsewn. See the image below.
6. Finish the 15 cm gap by sewing the edges, then attach the waistband and ties. The two-piece skirt is now complete. No image for this step.
Method Two: Lazy Method
1. Cut one piece of fabric, 5 meters long and 95 cm wide.
2. Fold the long edge of the fabric (the hem of the skirt) and finish the edges. Finishing the edges first prevents them from fraying later.
3. Pleat the fabric. The pleats of a full skirt should overlap in some areas, as shown in the image.
4. Leave 15 cm at one end unpleated, and pleat the rest of the fabric fully. Fold the unpleated 15 cm section, and open the two pleats in the middle that were just sewn.
5. Cut along the dashed red line for 15 cm on both sides. The unpleated ends will form the back piece of the skirt, and the fully pleated part will be the front piece.
6. Finish the 15 cm cut by sewing the edges, and sew the other side of the skirt. (I forgot to take a photo of this step.)
7. Attach the waistband and ties, and the skirt is complete.
In fact, the lazy method is similar to the conventional method, except that one side of the skirt is not sewn. To save effort, people's ingenuity knows no bounds!
You may have noticed that these two tutorials are actually for the outer layer and lining of the same skirt. A full skirt looks better when moving and is suitable for Han dance. When static, it is hard to distinguish from a 3-meter hem skirt. By extension, regardless of the length of the hem, the two-piece skirt is made in the same way. Have you got it?