How to attach a gathered skirt to a lined bodice

This sewing tutorial will walk you through how to attach a gathered skirt with no lining to a lined bodice.

This method uses the sewing machine to attach the skirt to the main fabric, and then a hand sewn slipstitch to secure the lining to the skirt.

Notes

The bodice I’m using for this tutorial has buttons and the skirt has a continuous bound placket (link to tutorial here) (it’s actually a romper bottom, not a skirt, but the process is the exact same). Those are common features on dresses, but if yours is simpler, then you can still follow this tutorial and just ignore those parts.

Supplies and materials

• Sewing machine
• Dress that you’re making
• Matching thread
• Iron and ironing board
• Scissors
• Pins
• Hand sewing needle

Sew the lined bodice

If you haven’t already sewn your bodice to the point of attaching the skirt to it, go ahead and do that now. The entire bodice should be completed, except buttonholes and buttons (if your dress has them).

Fold the lining of the bodice up and iron

Turn the bodice inside out and fold and iron the lining to the wrong side, according to your seam allowance.

Sew side seams and gathering stitches on the skirt

If you haven’t already sewn your skirt side seams together and sewn gathering stitches on the top edge, you can also do that now. (And if you don’t know how to gather, you can check out my guide to gathering here!)

For skirts with plackets, I take the gathering stitches right onto the placket (again, the blog post on sewing a placket in a skirt goes into more detail on this). If you don’t have a placket, just sew your gathering stitches from center back and all the way around, or from side seams to side seams for larger skirts.

Attach the skirt to the main fabric of the bodice with pins and gather

Now you can attach the skirt to the main fabric of the bodice. Make sure the lining is out of the way so that you don’t pin into it. Pin right sides together, at side seams and notches.

If you have a placket in the skirt and bodice, pin the edges together. I like to leave the side of the placket that will be folded unpinned (right side in this picture), so that I can nicely pull the gathers right up to the edge of the skirt.

Pull on the bobbin tails to gather the fabric in and add more pins.

Sew the gathered skirt to the main fabric of the bodice

Sew together according to your seam allowance, with the gathers up. I sew over the pins at the side seams (slowly) to make sure that they stay lined up.

This is the folded part of the placket. When you sew it, make sure the bobbin tails are out of the way so they don’t get caught in the stitching. This will make them easier to remove.

Check from the right side that everything looks good. Then cut the bobbin threads in the center of the gathered section and pull on the tails to remove.

Trim seam allowance and iron

Trim the seam allowance of the skirt and main fabric to 1/4 inch. Don’t trim the seam allowance of the lining.

Then iron the seam allowance up towards the bodice, being careful not to iron your lining. I prefer to iron from the right side, but you can also do it from the wrong side.

Pin bodice lining to the skirt

Now you can pin your lining to the skirt/bodice. Make sure to match up the side seams and get everything nice and even. I place pins approximately every 1 1/2 inches. That might seem like a lot, but it’s amazing how much things can shift out of place at this point!

Use a slipstitch to sew the bodice lining to the skirt

Now it’s time to do some hand sewing. If it’s daytime, then just wait until later. There’s nothing like hand sewing a little project in the evening with some tea to unwind. Haha, you don’t really have to, but it is nice!

By the way, if you’re completely opposed to hand sewing like I used to be, this part only takes about 10 minutes. I used to try to stitch the lining in place with my machine because I was convinced it would be faster, and I just wasn’t patient. But it never turned out well and ended up taking so much more time and just being so frustrating… I actually love doing this part by hand now!

Steps to sew a slipstitch

• 1. You will want to double your thread for strength. A length of thread that is about 1.5x the circumference of your bodice doubled (so actually 3x the circumference) will be enough. But that might be too much and tangle, depending on the size of the dress. Supposedly the best length to hand sew with is from your fingertips to your elbow (when doubled). So you can do what you want with that information!
• 2. Thread your needle and knot the tails.
• 3. You will be working from left to right. Start your first stitch from inside the fold of the lining to hide the knotted tail, then pull through to the outside.
• 4. Then poke the needle directly below the previous stitch into the seam allowance of the skirt, just above the stitching line. Then go directly above that into the fold of the lining. Come back out of the fold about 1/4 -1/2 inch away. Repeat until you reach the end.
• (You don’t want to stitch through into the main bodice because that would show from the right side.)

• 5. I like to make quick knots at the side seams and center front by passing my needle through the loop before pulling it tight, just so it’s more secure in case the thread ever breaks. The picture below shows a knot at center front, and otherwise the stitches are almost invisible, despite the very contrasting thread!

• 6. Once you reach the end, make little knots going through the loops again. I do about 3 right in the same area, taking tiny little pinches of fabric each time.
• 7. Then stick the needle between the two layers of the bodice and back out to hide your tails inside, then snip them.

And that’s how you attach a gathered skirt to a lined bodice!

Isn’t that just so satisfying? I love how the hand stitching doesn’t affect the look of the bodice and skirt from the right side, it’s just soft and flawless.

See how you can’t see the slipstitches from the right side at all, even despite the contrasting thread.

Did you find this tutorial to attach a gathered skirt to a bodice helpful? Let me know in the comments below!