DIY Poodle Skirt | Easy Poodle Skirt Tutorial

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Let’s make a DIY Poodle skirt today! Ever since my second daughter was born, I knew I wanted to make poodle skirts for the sisters! My girls are 6 + 9 years old now, so I’m running out of time! When Decades Day came up at school, I knew this was my reason to make it happen! Poodle skirts are so classic, fun and very quick to sew! In fact, there is barely any sewing involved!

Easy DIY Poodle Skirt | Sewing a Poodle Skirt

Poodle Skirt Materials

To start the DIY Poodle Skirt, you will need:

1.5″ – 2″ width elastic

1-1.5 yards of felt (by the yard), depending on how long you want your skirt

Ric rac or other trim for the poodle leash

Black felt to cut poodle out and embellishments for the collar

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Measure & Cut the Skirt Fabric

Skirt Step 1: To start, measure your child at the waist. I would cut your elastic to this length and then overlap it an inch or two to sew, so the elastic is tight on your child’s waist. This much felt in the skirt can be heavy, pulling the skirt down so I like the waist to be nice and taut!

Skirt Step 2:Then, measure from the waistband down to your child’s knee, or whatever is your desired length. Now it’s time for some math.

For a full 360 degree circle skirt you will take the circumference of your child’s waist minus 2. Then divide that by 6.28 (which is 2 Pi, if you wanted to know!) So for my daughter with a waist of 26″, I calculated 24/6.28 = 3.82.

Skirt Step 3: Fold your felt in half, then in half the other way so you have fabric 4 layers thick. Then, measure and mark off your radius for easy cutting! Now, determine the length you want and cut a clean line at this time as well. It is easiest for me to do all the cutting at once!

Time to Make the Skirt

Skirt Step 4: Now attach the waistband. Pin the elastic around so it is evenly distributed, and then sew it into place. You can use a zigzag stitch or stretch stitch here, just be sure to use a stitch that will stretch as the child puts the skirt on! Before I sewed the waistband on, I just tucked one end of the ric-rac up under the elastic so it would be securely in place.

Skirt Step 5: Now you can pin down and sew down your ric rac leash! I like to do a few loops and twirls, ric rac is forgiving and will move with you as you sew!

Poodle Time!

Skirt Step 6: I printed out a clip art poodle and traced it onto my black felt. You can be as simple or intricate as you want! You can embellish the collar or add pom poms to the feet or do whatever you like to fancy up your poodle. I ended up hot gluing my poodles on, but you could sew these into place as well.

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Skirt Step 7: And just like that, you’re done! Classic, simple poodle skirt ready to twirl!

As you can see, I used some scrap felt to make coordinating neck scarves too! It’s just a long strip of felt, cut to points at the ends. This is a fun and free way to add a perfect coordinate and finish the outfit!