5 Easy Figure Skating Sewing Patterns for Beginners

Sewing a figure skating dress or skirt for the first time, or even the third, seventh, or tenth, time can be intimidating. After all, you don’t want to put in all that hard work measuring your skater, adjusting the pattern, cutting it out, and sewing it just to have the figure skating dress not fit. Of course, when this happens, the competition is tomorrow.

If you’re just beginning to sew, keep it simple, especially for the first few projects. You’ll be sewing terrific dresses soon, but if you start with easy patterns, you’ll make your mistakes where you can easily repair them and not on $20/yard fabric. When I choose a simple pattern, I always look for those that don’t have too many pieces, those with straight-ish seams, and patterns that assemble quickly and give sewers a feeling of pride and accomplishment. I always recommend starting with a practice skirt, but I’ve included two dresses in my list as well. If you’re brand-new to sewing, start with #1 and work your way up to #5. I wish you success!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

5. Assorted practice skirts, Kwik Sew 3051. This pattern contains four designs: two different, A-line skirts and two dresses. The skirts are very nice and in the current style of a straighter, less full skirt. I usually make View C, which has side slits and a straight hem. If you’re new to sewing, this is the view to attempt. You’ll feel a lot better hemming that straight hem than the curvy View D. I have two criticisms of this pattern: once you sew the Jalie practice skirt waistband, this one will seem clunky. And, to be frank, the dresses with this pattern are ugly. They’re great if you want to use them as a template to make something nice, but if you’re a beginning sewer, you can do better than these dresses.

4. Mod empire waist dress, Jalie 2571. This pattern just looks fun to sew. It’s a very straight-forward, easy pattern to make. If you have any trouble at all, it will be with the ring at the neckline of View A and the sizing. I read and re-read the directions for that ring and figured it out by trial and error. I’m still not certain how I did it. So, if you’re a beginner sewer, choose View B. That neckline with elastic is way easier. You’ll receive 22 sizes in your pattern envelope, so altering the pattern won’t be trouble. However, if your skater is not a straight stick of a girl, if she has curves and flesh, cut the pattern generously. I’d take the curvy gal’s measurements, match it up to the bust size, and go up one size. That skirt is narrow and not everyone’s hips, rear end or thighs fit well in it.

3. Baby doll skating dress, Kwik Sew 2796. This was one of the first figure skating dresses I ever made. I was so successful with it, I ended up making another. I chose View B to make, but View A is essentially the same dress with a long skirt. The dress has lots of straight seams and a good technique for arm and neck hole binding, which is a useful thing to learn. In fact, when I made the dress the second time, I chose that trendy greenish-blue color for the skirt panties, and seam binding and used white for the bodice. It’s a flattering dress, too. If your skater has curves and flesh, this dress will look terrific on her. I also like the way the skirt looks when a skater spins in it.

2. Practice skirt and pants,Practice skirt and pants, Jalie 2215. This terrific pattern is now out of print, but it’s by far my favorite practice skirt to make. The pants are very simple and the skirt’s waistband is pure genius. You can buy it Jalie as a download ($8.99 Canadian dollars). The practice skirt has just four pieces and goes together very quickly. The pants have just four pieces, too. I haven’t made the top for this pattern, because I just don’t see the point. I can buy tops anywhere for very little money. Practice skirts and pants are another story. If you like to have a slit in the skirt, make the Kwik Sew practice skirts first (see #5 above) and then modify this pattern very easily to have a slit. My experience is that the skirt is kind of long. You might have to lop off some of the length before you hem.
1. Shrug, Jalie 2558. This really isn’t a pattern just for skating, but Ice Girl uses hers as a competition sweater, something warm for practice ice, and a neat accessory for school. This pattern has 7 pieces, but most of the seams are straight seams. It’s a great opportunity to practice straight stitching and a lot of it. The pattern goes together quickly, too, so it’s something you and your skater could reasonably spend 4 – 6 hours doing together and she’ll have something new to wear at the rink. I’ve used both Polartec fleece and soft jersey knits with this pattern. It does require a double needle for sewing some of the straight stitching, but this is a great place to learn about double needles for hemming. With a double needle, you’ll need two spools of thread. If you’ve chosen a solid fabric, you can choose two spools of contrasting thread and make the double-needle stitching decorative. You’ll still need an additional spool of thread that matches the garment fabric.

Bonus:New Kwik Sew 3769. I confess, I haven’t sewn this pattern, but it looks just terrific. I’ll tell you up front: those V-neck parts will probably give you a fit. The rest of the dress appears to be simple and elegant. I’m telling you: this is the next dress that I’m going to make. For new sewers, I would recommend View B because I think the V-neck looks easier than View A’s. Be sure to check out the .pdf back view to see how the straps criss-cross the skater’s back. I’m very sure that you can swap View B’s skirt for View A’s and vice versa.

New sewers: do you have any questions about these patterns, advice for new sewers, or problems with a pattern? Was there a pattern that you’ve abandoned? Why?

Experienced sewers: do you have a favorite pattern that would be a good first try for a new sewer? Please recommend one! Is there an element that you look for when you choose a pattern? Please share.

Photo/image credits:
Pins: JuditK on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Jalie patterns: Jalie.com
KwikSew patterns: KwikSew.com

Anonymous

I started sewing a year ago (the lady who made my dresses had gotten quite sick, and it was something I had been wanting to learn for a long time). Got a sewing machine on sale and got some very cheep ($1/yard) muslin to start practicing with. I actually needed to make a non-skating costume for a party first, so that gave me good practice doing straight stitching and working with lots of fabric. However, making something like the shrug above would probably be a good starting place to try to make something wearable. After that I moved to practicing on scrap leftover stretch fabric from skating costumes in years past, and then eventually to making real practice dresses. I used fairly cheep fabric ($5/yard lycra) to make the fist few dresses. I used KwikSew pattern 2601 (http://www.kwiksew.com/catalog/cat_detail.cfm?pid=2601&Cat=Misses&Level=Leotards,_Activewear&QL=MissLeotards). I first fried the C style, then the A style. The A style I think is actually easier to make, and it shows how to gather the front, which looks good on many skater body-types (let’s just say I am one of the curvy girls, but a stick girl at my rink has a dress from the same pattern and it looks good on her too). I had enough fabric to make 4 dresses. The first two I followed the pattern vary closely, but the second set of two I made major alterations to the top. I think the altered ones fit me much better, but perhaps that is because I was more used to sewing by that point. I will admit I never made the skirt from this pattern. To me, it looks very short, and I didn’t like the style, but it is only 3 pieces and 4 steps to make. Granted, you will need to wear a leotard under it, but I think it looks very easy. Instead, I took a dress I already had where I liked the cut of the skirt and made my own skirt pattern, which I made and attached to the leotard from the pattern. I think the cut is more flattering for me and it looks good for my competition dresses too…

A few good things about this pattern: (1) I think the instructions are very good; I never had formal sewing training but I was able to make something respectable looking, (2) I think the style is very good looking for skaters with many body types, (3) KwikSew has 5 sizes on the patterns (XS-XL), so adjusting is pretty easy (the instructions help a lot with this too), (4) it has long sleeve, short sleeve, and no-sleeve options, so you can make a large variety of styles, (5) the pattern is on very sturdy paper… I have made a lot of dresses with it and the pattern has held up pretty well for getting so much use (6) I find this pattern easy to modify; it has many pieces, so its easy to match them up and make a dress out of one fabric rather than using the contrasting fabrics as shown in the picture. In fact, I have never even used another pattern for skating dresses… I have made all my dresses from this one pattern by modifying the top to how I want it to look and making my own skirt patterns. Granted, sometimes this works better than others… but usually I end up with something pretty good, or at least wearable. I have made 3 competition dresses from the pattern, but they look nothing like what you see in the picture.

Some bad things about the pattern: (1) The leotard patterns have a lot of pieces; if you have problems keeping track maybe pin the pattern piece or number to the cut-out fabric if you are worried about losing track. After a while its easy to see where things should go, but first time through can be a bit difficult. (2) I think they use too small of a seem allowance. I had to make a larger seem allowance otherwise it was sort of baggy (instructions say 1/4″ but I use more like 1/2″). (3) They use too much elastic. The instructions tell you to use 3/8″ elastic for the entire leotard. I like 3/8 for the top but 1/2 for the legs. Also, I use something like 8 inches less for the leg elastic (each leg) then recommended. Maybe its just me, but I hate the feeling of saggy tights. For the top, I don’t cut the elastic before I sew anymore, I just sew it on and cut when I get to the end. I think its easier to get consistent tension in the elastic this way, and it makes it a bit tighter and fit better, in my opinion. (4) For the curvy girls… If you have a really curvy body that suddenly changes 3 sizes around your waist you may need to take darts in the back for a good fit. Do this BEFORE you put in the elastic, and it will look much better. If you put on the leotard without elastic and there are large droopy sections of fabric in the back you might need the darts.

Granted, I don’t have much for comparison, but I really think the KwikSew patterns are good for new sewers because they are pretty simple and have good instructions. I think their patterns are a bit big, which is also good for new sewers – its much easier to sew another seem to make it smaller than to have to redo everything because your skater can’t put it on in the first place… I also think that they can be easily modified for the more advanced sewers. Also, they have many pattern options, so if you want one that shows how to make one with a skirt patterns 3272 and 3445 look pretty good (I haven’t tried them, but they look similar to the 2601, only with attached skirts).
Lynne

For boys practice pants I've used Kwik Sew 3429. It has only 1 pattern piece ( 2 pieces of material to sew together ). The pants sit just above the hips, but my son likes them a little higher. This alteration is easy to do. You tape a piece of paper on the back of the pattern so the paper extends above the top of the pattern and then extend the pattern lines an inch or 2 and redraw the waist following the same shape as the pattern. I own a set of french curves for altering patterns, but you could use a piece of tissue paper to trace the waist line and then tape the tissue paper where the new waist line needs to be.

For competition pants, I've used McCall's 4964, which is for fleece pull-on pants. Since these pants are baggy, I use a smaller size than my son would normally wear, except for the length. I always make the pant legs a size or two longer than what he measures, and then have him put the finished, unhemmed pants on and then put his skates on to figure out where the hem should go. I use black elastic for the strap under the skates. I sew one side into the hem, before I hem the pants so the stitching is hidden, and I put a snap on the other side, again before I hem so the snap is on the inside of pants and not visible.

A basic leotard works for the first time making a competition shirt. The first pattern I used was Kwik Sew 2178, which is out of print. But I've found Kwik Sew patterns to be pretty easy to use. I've also used Butterick 6787 view E, obviously without the attached skirt. I have modified the bottom of the pattern to use the Kwik Sew 3429 leotard bottom, which is cut differently, but since this isn't visible, it's not necessary. When you start feeling more confident and adventurous, you can merge a basic button down shirt, like McCall's 4164, with a leotard bottom. This requires shortening the shirt and gathering the bottom of the shirt before attaching it to the leotard bottom. If this seam isn't perfect, it's not a big deal since it will be hidden under the pants. To gather, baste around the bottom of the shirt, then using a pin, pull up the stitching every 2-3 stitches. If you gather it too much, you can just gently pull on the material to remove some of the gathering.

When laying out your pattern for cutting, be sure to pay attention to the grain line. It will be a long straight line down the pattern piece with an arrow at the end, and it's usually labeled grain line. This line should be an equal distance from the selvage of the fabric, or from the fold if you're cutting the other way. If you don't cut the pattern aligned with the grain, the garment won't drape correctly. If you've ever seen a pair of pants where the seam curves to the front or back of the pants, that's because the pattern wasn't cut with attention to the grain.

The first time I attempted sewing a skating outfit, I bought cheap, stretch remnant fabric and didn't worry about making mistakes as I knew I was just going to use if for rags once I was done playing.

Happy Sewing!
bethalice

Kwik Sew 2887 is also very easy, and to alter for different looks. I also found Jalie 2673 very easy (certainly much easier than it looks), but sadly, it is now OOP.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Thanks, bethalice!

I haven't sewn either one of these, but they look great!
bethalice

I did alter the panty of the KS pattern, lowered the panty line an inch or two as my daughter is very modest. I left the Jalie as is, except for lengthening it an inch or two at the bodice and waist (the girl I sewed it for was thin and long).
~bethalice – on another computer since mine was stolen when my house was broken into.
Madeline

Re Jalie 2215, pants, straightforward for the most part, but the waistband can be a little tricky… it’s just too easy to end up with puckers as you pull the fabric through the machine, and if you stitch from the right side, you can end up not catching the fabric end as you go around. (Had to rip one out three times before I was more or less satisfied with it.) Sure wish Jalie had more practice outfit patterns like 2215 — my daughter prefers pants/jackets to skating dresses.
Madeline

Re Jalie 2215, pants, straightforward for the most part, but the waistband can be a little tricky… it's just too easy to end up with puckers as you pull the fabric through the machine, and if you stitch from the right side, you can end up not catching the fabric end as you go around. (Had to rip one out three times before I was more or less satisfied with it.) Sure wish Jalie had more practice outfit patterns like 2215 — my daughter prefers pants/jackets to skating dresses.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Huh. I didn’t have trouble with the waistband, but I think I stitched it from the back. I think I pinned it in eighths and stretched to the pins to avoid puckers.

Love the pants, hey? I’ve made several for Ice Girl, but I’ve now taken to elongating the leg with a slightly flared extension. I use heavy-duty Lycra for the pant, but plain ol’ black for the leg extension. Between the two, I sew a rectangle of the contrast fabric. I think they look pretty sweet and the leg extension hangs below the boot, like the Chloe Noel pants.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Huh. I didn't have trouble with the waistband, but I think I stitched it from the back. I think I pinned it in eighths and stretched to the pins to avoid puckers.

Love the pants, hey? I've made several for Ice Girl, but I've now taken to elongating the leg with a slightly flared extension. I use heavy-duty Lycra for the pant, but plain ol' black for the leg extension. Between the two, I sew a rectangle of the contrast fabric. I think they look pretty sweet and the leg extension hangs below the boot, like the Chloe Noel pants.
Isabellem1998

Wow, invisiblesk8r129A, you really know your stuff!!!! I am a beginner skater and I would like to make some of these dresses (but I still have to do homework!). Your passage was really infomative.
I think my grandma has some Quiksew patterns … I will really need to ask her.
http://erinsskatingblog.blogspot.com/ Erin

Have you tried the Kwik Sew 3769 yet? I have an eye on it too, but I don’t see how I can wear a bra with it. Eeep!
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Nope. I haven’t made it yet. When I make a dress like this, I handsew a bra into the garment. Often it’s just the cups, but it works pretty well. I pick sticth the bra to the lining, after Ice Girl’s tried it on with the cut-up bra.
http://erinsskatingblog.blogspot.com/ Erin

Wow, that is a good idea. I am not a very good seamstress though so I may try to stick to something simple for my first dress. Unfortunately the Jalie patterns look a bit complicated so I will start with the skirt as you suggest. BTW the soakers were easy! Very much at my skill level
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, Erin. Actually, what I like about Jalie is that they’re pretty easy and you can download the instructions as a .pdf before you buy the pattern. They’re illustrated and straightforward. I love having the instructions beforehand so I can make sure that I understand what’s expected and how make it happen.

Of course, Kwik Sew has good instructions, too. I don’t think they’re easier, though. They’re about the same, I think. The practice skirt from Jalie (now out-of-print, but available for download) is the easiest, slickest thing I’ve ever seen. I could go on about how smart that waistband is, but I think I’ve already done that in the post!

Good luck!
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Glad the soakers worked out for you!

If you’re just starting out, I’d try a pair of practice pants, a skirt, or that shrug. You’ll feel successful with all of them.

If you go to the fabric store, you’ll find alternatives to sewing a bra to the lining. They have some stuff that you can just wear underneath – no sewing! As for pick stitching the bra to the lining, it’s a pain in the rear. I have Ice Girl try on the dress wearing the bra with straps. Then I outline the bra placement with tailor’s chalk on the outside of the garment. If it’s practical, I have her try on the dress wrong-side out so I can mark the lining with the chalk instead. Then I pin the bra to the dress while Ice Girl is still wearing it. She freaks out when I do that. She takes off the dress and I lose two-three hours of my life stitching in that stupid bra. Then I cut off the straps and the back and buy Ice Girl a new bra.

I hate doing it, but I want her to feel comfortable and confident out on the ice, you know?
Isakswings

I have used Kwik Sew 3769 but in the kids version. I have made both view A and B. View B is definately easier then A! Turning that V-neck right side out drove me nuts. I was a brandnew sewer and it took me forever to do that. B went together nicely and quickly. It was much easier to make B! Just thought I would comment on that pattern.
Isakswings

I have used Kwik Sew 3769 but in the kids version. I have made both view A and B. View B is definately easier then A! Turning that V-neck right side out drove me nuts. I was a brandnew sewer and it took me forever to do that. B went together nicely and quickly. It was much easier to make B! Just thought I would comment on that pattern.