How to draft and sew a Tiered Circle Skirt Dress

This massive, tiered dress is a dream! A few weeks ago I was fortunate to attend a wedding and I decided to recreate a fabulous Jacquemus dress with cotton lawn gifted from Storrs London. To make the dress extra romantic, I made a tiered skirt that’s as big as a full circle. And since I couldn’t find any resources on the internet to help me draft this trendy shape, I have created a calculator to show you just how to sew a tiered circle skirt to any measurements. Short, tall, or anywhere in between this tiered circle skirt calculator will give you just the measurements you need to draft a custom pattern. The calculator will even help you to eke out your dress with as little fabric as possible! 

This dress – and the wedding I wore it at – were pure excitement in the time of Covid-19. Since going out, even to an outdoor event, is a rare delight these days, I wanted to bring romance and wonder into this dress. With just 4 meters of fabric I was able to create an extremely full skirt that swayed as I danced and marched in the jazz parade from the ceremony to the reception. And because it was made in this superfine cotton lawn, the dress was incredibly lightweight and easy to wear.

My friends on Instagram were following closely as I lead a mad dash to sew this dress on the day before the wedding. I worked myself into a frenzy stitching hundreds of inches of gathers and French seams. Along the way I employed every trick in my arsenal to sew as quickly as possible. To help you recreate the dress and finish it beautifully inside and out, watch the video below and learn all of my steps and tricks!.

Pattern

• Bodice – McCall’s M7937, View B
• Skirt – self-drafted

Fabric

• 4 meters Cotton lawn from Storrs London, gifted
• Cotton broadcloth lining

How to recreate this tiered circle skirt dress

1. Use my free tiered circle skirt calculator to design your skirt, determine how much fabric you will need, and get the exact measurements to use for your pattern pieces. 
   1. Instructions are provided on the calculator for exactly how to update the measurements to your own. 
   2. In the cell for the waist measurement, you can use any measurement for the top of your skirt. If you are connecting this to a bodice, I recommend using the finished garment measurement for that pattern’s waist or underbust, depending on where the dress will reach.
   3. If you do not have enough fabric as indicated on the calculator, try adjusting the length of your tiers. You may need to make your skirt length a little bit shorter to get it to fit.
2. Draft your pattern using the given measurements. From paper, you will need to cut one pattern piece for each tier.
   1. Column F indicates the width of each pattern piece to cut. The width should be placed perpendicular to the selvage.
   2. Column G indicates the length of each pattern piece to cut. The length should be placed parallel to the selvage.
   3. Column E indicates the number of pieces you will need to cut.
3. Mark the center point of each of your pattern pieces at the top and bottom. This will be helpful for gathering later.
4. Sew the pattern pieces for each together along the short sides using French seams.
   1. If you are only doing a zipper in the back, you can sew all of the pattern pieces for each tier together.
   2. If you are doing a zipper in the back plus a button placket in the front, sew your pattern pieces for each tier together so you have 2 separate sections. For example, Tier 2 may have 2 sections that each have 2 pattern pieces sewn together.
5. Sew gathers along the top end of each tier. Pin the gathers at the top of each tier to the bottom of the tier above it, matching your center markings and ends. Stitch these together with a French seam.
6. Connect your dress to the bodice pattern using a French seam.
7. Add your zipper and button placket as desired.
8. Hem the dress with a narrow hem.

Tips and Tools for Sewing This Tiered Dress

• Use a small 65/9 needle to sew through the superfine cotton
• To save time and tedious precision when sewing the French seams, I used 1/4″ quilting foot to stitch at a consistent seam allowance 
• When sewing the second row of stitches for the gathers, an edgestitch foot helped me to stay exactly 1/8″ from my first row of stitching
• Hemming
  • My dress had nearly 300 inches along the hem so I used the #6 rolled hem foot to save a ton of work and time. The foot made it so I didn’t have to fold and press the hem before stitching. 
  • The rolled hem foot did not take well to the French seams along the length. When it got stuck, I simply tacked in place, removed my fabric, and placed it about an inch down the line to continue stitching.