30-Minute Peasant Skirt

Apr 25, 2023 | Theatre Costumes

If you costume for community or high school theatre, you will almost certainly be asked, sooner or later, to work on a Disney show. And if you costume a Disney show, you will almost certainly need to costume villagers – Disney likes villagers. ?

The easiest costume for villager women and girls includes an inexpensive “peasant” blouse from Goodwill or some other source, and a plain cotton full-length or almost-full-length skirt. The purpose of this post is to pass along my method for making these skirts very quickly – about 30 minutes each.

Selecting and Preparing the Fabric

Start with a 1 ½ yard piece of 45” wide fabric. (For the skirt pictured, I used muted-toned quilters cotton.)
Machine-wash and dry fabric.

Cut off selvedge of fabric for 30-minute peasant skirt

Cutting the Fabric

For a 37” long skirt, cut 5” off of one long selvedge edge of the fabric. (To make the skirt longer or shorter, adjust the amount of fabric cut off in this step.)
The easiest way to make a straight “cut” is to cut about 4” into the fabric, then grab the edges on each side of the cut and tear the fabric. The fabric will tear along the grainline, giving you a straight, on-grain edge to work with.

Using a card to measure the hem of the 30-minute peasant skirt

General Construction Tips

When sewing these skirts (and most costume pieces), I only use black or white thread. You’ll find that the thread blends and isn’t visible from the audience, so it’s not worth matching thread to each individual piece of fabric.
To easily measure the 1” and 2” fabric folds while pressing, cut 1” and 2” notches in a piece of paper or index card, and use that to measure the fold as you press.

Sewing the waist casing for the 30-minute peasant skirt

Make a Top Casing

Along the cut/torn edge, fold under 1” of fabric and press to make a top casing for the elastic (or wider, depending on the size of elastic you are using – I used a narrow elastic I had on hand, so I made a 1” casing.)
Starting 4” from one end, sew the casing down, stitching close to the cut/torn edge. End the stitching 4” from the other end.
TIP: If the skirt will be worn in many shows, or you are concerned about your fabric raveling, serge the cut/torn edge before you make the casing.

Make a Bottom Hem

Along the remaining long selvedge edge, fold under 2” of fabric and press to make hem.
Sew down the hem, stitching close to the selvedge edge of the fabric.

Sew the Side Seam

Fold the fabric in half, with the two remaining unsewn edges together. Starting at the hem edge, sew a ½” side seam. When you reach the casing edge, open the casing folds and continue sewing to the edge.
If you have access to a serger, serge the edge of this seam.
Sandwich-press the side seam, then press the seam from the right side of the fabric.
If needed, press the fold back into the casing.

Applying the elastic for the 30-minute peasant skirt

Make the Waist Band

Cut a piece of elastic no larger than 2” less than the measurement of the actor’s waist. (For instance, if the actor has a 28” waist, your elastic should be no larger than 26”.)
Attach a large safety pin to one end of the elastic and feed the elastic through the casing, starting and ending at the opening.
Use the safety pin to fasten the 2 ends of the elastic together.
Fit the skirt on the actor by pulling up the elastic if the waist is to big, or substituting a larger piece of elastic if the waist is too snug.
Once you have fitted the skirt on the actor, and you’re sure that the waist fits, you are ready to finish the waistband.
Sew the ends of the elastic together.
Sew the casing closed by stitching along the edge of the opening.