My finger needed a rest from my current knitting project, so I decided to spend some time turning a metre of seasonal fabric into a simple circle skirt (lined with a contrasting hot pink cotton).

I started with 1m of 114cm wide Michael Miller fabric. 1.5m of 114cm wide contrast cotton fabric, a zip, some cotton thread, scissors and pins.

The seasonal fabric (Gingerbread Village) runs in one direction, so it would need to be adjusted to avoid getting upside down gingerbread houses. I started by taking 10cm off the side (from the 114cm width) to use in the waistband, then cut the fabric horizontally and joined it back together again.

The waistband was also folded in half and sewn along the raw edge before being turned right side out. Both pieces were then ironed.

The contrast cotton was cut to a 1m square and pinned right side to right side with the seasonal fabric. The new piece was then carefully folded into quarters, making sure there weren’t any creases or folds in either layer.

The tapemeasure was then taken and, after taking a waist measurement, was anchored in the middle corner of the work. Two arcs were then drawn: one at the limit of the fabric’s width to maximise the length of the skirt and one at the waist measurement divided by 6. Two cuts were then made along these lines.

When unfolded you will now have two doughnuts which can be pinned together for the hem.

Once the hem is sewn the piece can be turned right side out again and pressed.

A slit was then cut in the lining for the zip and the seam unpicked to accommodate it. I tried on the skirt and check it fit before hemming the waist and attaching the waistband.

Then it was just a case of inserting the zip and adding a button and loop at the top (I suck at sewing in zips), et voila.