Sewing the 107 Afghan Dress Skirt - Tip and Tricks

September 14, 2025 1 Comment

The skirt of the 107 Afghan Dress is fairly simple to construct.  In this post I will go over how to do it, as well as some tips and tricks to make it easier.  I am going to focus on the modern version, not the traditional version, but much of what is here also applies to the traditional version.

To see how to make the bodice of the dress, go to our tutorial on Making the 107 Afghan Dress Bodice.

For the skirt, you will generally use one fabric, though the traditional version also has a panel for the upper back that can be a different type (coordinating print, etc).  I have also seen customers who have made the skirt with different panels of coordinating fabric, making stripes of colors throughout.  However, for this tutorial, we are using one fabric.

I covered a little about cutting out the skirt fabric in the tutorial for making the bodice.  But, you will cut the entire width of your fabric into the length you want your skirt to be.  So, for instance, if you have a 45" wide fabric, you will want at least 3 panels that are 45" wide and as long as you desire your skirt to be.  

To determine the length you want your skirt to be, measure from about 1" below your underbust (about where the bodice will end) to the length you want the skirt to end.  Then add 2.25" for the hem at the bottom (1.5") and for the seam allowance (.75") at the top.  For my skirt, I had 2.25 yards of 44" wide fabric.  I wanted 3 panels, so I divided 2.25 yards (81") by 3 to get 27".  I cut my fabric into 27" long sections. 

If you have 60" wide fabric, you could consider a narrower skirt and only use 2 panels. The width and length of the skirt can be left up to you.  Another thing to consider for this is the weight of your fabric.  A heavier-weight fabric for your skirt can make the entire dress very heavy if you make a very wide and long skirt.  Alternatively, if you use a very lightweight fabric, you might want to make the skirt more full (and be careful of making a very short skirt with lightweight fabric because it can blow up and around more easily). 

I sewed the sections together at the side seams, with right sides together, to create a large loop.  If you use the whole width of your fabric, you don't need to finish the seams here. The seam allowances will be your selvages. Press the seams open.

Gathering the Waist

You will sew gathering stitches at the waist of the skirt.  The seam allowance at the waist is .75", so you can sew gathering stitches at just over .75" (at a scant 1") and at 5/8".  You could even sew three rows of gathering stitches, adding another row at 1/2".

I think it helps to sew two sections of gathering stitches. One section on half the skirt, and another section on the other half.  This helps pull the gathers without breaking threads.  You could even divide the skirt into thirds and sew three sections of stitches.  This is also really helpful if your skirt is very wide or if you are using heavier fabric.  

If you are doing the traditional skirt, the pattern suggests putting in gathering stitches by hand with heavy duty thread.  You may be able to use a buttonweight thread and your machine.

Pull the gathering stitches so that they are even and are pulled as narrow as the bottom of the bodice opening (at the waist).  For my skirt, this was almost as tight as I could get the gathers.  Be patient and slow this gathering as you do not want to break threads and have to start over.

Attaching Skirt to Bodice

For the narrow version (or modern version), you will put the right side of the bodice to the right side of the skirt.  Adjust the gathers to be even and pin the bodice to the skirt.  I like to have one seam in the center back, but it is not really very important because the skirt is so full. 

For the traditional version, you will have finsihed the bottom edge of the bodice (basically making a narrow hem at the bottom of the bodice and you will put the wrong side of the bodice over the right side of the skirt (it will look as it will when being worn), and you will hand stitch (or machine stitch) the bodice to the skirt with a .75" overlap of the bodice over the skirt.

Once everything is pinned together, you can sew the skirt to the bodice, using a .75" seam allowance.  I like to sew this seam with the gathers facing up so that I can adjust them while I sew to keep them as straight as possible and eliminate any strange overlaps that can happen in the gathers.  

Once the bodice and skirt are sewn together, you can finish the edge by serging or zigzag stitching over the raw edges. You could even bind the seam allwoance, though that adds more bulk to the seam.  

Press the seam allowance toward the bodice and then topstitch over the bodice to add another line of stitching to support the skirt. 

Finishing

Hem the skirt with a narrow hem (as I did), or turn up 1/2" then another 1" to the inside a sew.  You could also use a blind hem stitch at the bottom.  Or do what i did and make a narrow hem and stitch.

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