For this year’s (i.e. 2022) Halloween I and my family have decided to dress as various characters from the Harry Potter Movies. One of them will be Luna Lovegood and in this blog post I’m going to describe, how to make a space pattern skirt Luna is wearing. It is going to be a simple bubble skirt with an elastic waist.
This page contains a pattern calculator , that can compute individual pattern piece dimensions based on your body measurements.
For the Luna Lovegood skirt you will need the following (see the list and image below):
- Black/dark blue fabric with space pattern
- Black/dark blue lining
- Black elastic band (for the skirt waist)
- Black rib jersey fabric (for the skirt waist)
Take the following measurements
- Waist circumference
- Hip circumference
- Skirt length: from your waist to about POLOVICE STEHIEN (the skirt is quite short)
Calculate the Luna Lovegood skirt pattern pieces dimensions
Use the pattern calculator blow that helps you gain the pattern dimensions. If you wish to learn more about bubble skirt construction details, please read this blog post.
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Luna Lovegood skirt pattern dimensions
Useful tips for fabric selection
Fabric for lining: If you are a beginner, I do not recommend using thin, lightweight, and foremost slippery fabrics that are mostly used as lining. They require good skills and experience to cut and sew. My suggestion is a lightweight plain-weave cotton fabric.
If you are a beginner, you can use a lightweight plain wave cotton fabric as lining.
Design fabric: Use light to medium weight fabric that does not crease badly or has a crease-resistant finish. You should be able to find a lightweight woven cotton fabric or cotton jersey with a pattern that would be suitable for this skirt.
Prepare the elastic waist rib jersey
1. Cut the rib jersey fabric according to the dimensions from the pattern calculator above. Do not forget to include seam allowances.
2. Fold the rib jersey in half RIGHT sides together and sew the side seam. Skip a short part of the seam in order to leave a gap for inserting the waistband. You may draw the markings where to sew and where to stop sewing right on the jersey fabric (see the images below). I’ll insert a narrow elastic (2,5 cm – 1 inch), therefore the gap may be small. For wider elastics, make the gap wider.
The sewn seam should look like this (see the image below).
3. Fold the jersey in half along the waistline so that you can see its RIGHT side. Position the seam on one of the folds on the right or left-hand side. Mark the opposite fold with a pin (see the image below).
4. Place the first pin opposite the rib jersey seam. Mark each new fold on the side with new pins (see the images below).
You have just divided the rib jersey waistband into quarters using the seam and three pins. This will help you to pin the jersey to the skirt waist properly.
The prepared casing will be used later on. Now, you will sew the skirt itself.
Sew the Luna Lovegood skirt
Make sure you have prepared all the fabrics for sewing: Washed, dried, and pressed.
1. Cut all the remaining pattern pieces if you haven’t done so (the lining and the design fabric) according to the pattern calculator results.
2. Make notches (small v-shaped cuts in the seam allowance) at the design fabric and lining waist. These will help you position the pattern pieces properly before sewing them together.
If you have a FRONT and BACK pattern piece, make one notch in the center of the waist (see the images above).
If you have one piece for the FRONT and BACK, make three notches dividing the waist into quarters (see the images above).
I have separate FRONT and BACK pattern pieces and made one notch on the lining FRONT waist, and one on the lining BACK waist. Also one on the design fabric FRONT waist and design fabric BACK waist.
2. Finish all seam allowances of the lining and design fabric but the waist. The waist seam allowance will be finished later in the process of sewing.
4. If you have a FRONT and BACK design fabric pattern piece, sew them together and press the seams open. Also, sew together the lining FRONT and BACK and press the seams open. If you use fabrics that are prone to fraying badly, use a short straight stitch.
In case you have the lining and the design fabric as one piece, skip this step and go directly to the next one.
5. Gather the design fabric at the waist and at the “hem” so that it matches the width of the lining. I use a basting thread and a zig-zag stitch to do so. However, feel free to use any other method for gathering fabric that works for you.
As soon as the gathered design fabric width matches the lining width, stop gathering.
6. Sew together the side seams of the lining and side seams of the gathered design fabric. Again, use a short stitch length for fabrics that fray badly. Press both side seams open (see the images below).
7. Pin the “hem” of the lining with the “hem” of the design fabric RIGHT sides together to fix them, aligning the side seams accurately. Sew the two together (see the images below).
After you are done sewing, remove the stitches used to gather the design fabric.
Now, the partially sewn bubble skirt should look like this (see the image below).
8. Take out the lining (see the image below). Fold the design fabric so that you can see its RIGHT side and pin the design fabric and lining waist together.
At this stage, you can notice how the bottom of the skirt has folded and a bubble shape of the skirt is being formed.
9. Machine-baste the lining and design fabric together at the waist (see the image below). (To machine-baste: Use a long stitch and a low upper tension setting.)
10. Remove the stitches you have used to gather the design fabric. Luna Lovegood’s skirt is almost finished. To complete it, just the rib jersey waistband remains to be sewn.
11. Now take the rib jersey piece for the waist and align the pins inserted in it with the skirt side seams and notches (see the image below). When connecting the jersey to the fabric, make sure you can see the opening for the elastic. Once the skirt is finished, this gap will be on the inside of the skirt.
13. Sew the jersey to the skirt waist. An overlock machine (or serger) is the ideal option to do so. If you do not own an overlock, use an overlock stitch on your sewing machine. If you have a very basic sewing machine that does not have an overlock stitch, use a 3 step zig-zag stitch instead. The three-step zig-zag stitch keeps all three layers firmly together, providing the stretchiness of the final seam at the same time.
While sewing all layers together, slightly stretch the jersey waistband so that it lies nice and flat on the design fabric (see the image below). Be sure you are not preventing the overlock or sewing machine from feeding the fabric. Also remove the pins before they reach the knife of your overlock (serger) machine!
14. Remove the basting you have sewn with the sewing machine. The sewn lining, design fabric, and rib jersey casing should look like this (see the image below).
15. As the last step insert an elastic band into the rib jersey casing and sew its ends together. I use a dense zig-zag stitch to do so.
Remove the basting at the waist and your DIY Luna Lovegood black skirt is ready (see the image below)! Check out also other Luna’s accessories and costume parts like the butterbeer cork necklace, radish earrings or funny glasses called spectrespecs. Do not forget to wear this skirt with blue tights :).
