Rips in My Jeans: Lace Insert Maxi Skirt- A Tutorial

I made an infinity dress a few months ago to wear to a wedding and I had about a yard and half of some stretchy gray poly knit left over. I've also been practicing my hand at maxi skirts and yoga waistbands, so I figured I might as well do some stash busting while I was at it.
I didn't just want a plain old boring gray (lots of adjectives!) maxi skirt so I was racking my brain trying to figure out a way to spruce it up. I got this idea from all the lace insert shirts I've been seeing around.

This post is picture heavy, and I'm hoping my tutorial doesn't confuse the mess out of you.

Supplies:
1 1/2 to 2 yard stretchy knit (depending on your size)
Matching lace (amount depends on how big you want the insert)
Matching thread
Sewing machine and all the fixins'

First you need to cut your skirt body. I did mine out of one full piece of fabric with the seam in the back instead of two pieces with the seam down both sides.

I measured around my hips adding 3-4 inches for wiggle room. Measure from a few inches below your belly buttom to where you want your skirt to hit length wise.

Now cut your fabric to that size. Mine was 40 inches width and 32 length.

Go ahead and measure for your waistband. Figure out how wide you want your waistband to be and cut a strip that is double that measurement. You want the strip to be pretty long so you can wrap it around your waist to see how snug you want. Wrap it around your waist to a comfortable snugness and place a pin there. Cut it.

Now sew your waistband. Fold it lengthwise then widthwise and sew a small zigzag stitch to connect the ends.

Next, cut your lace. I found this lovely gray lace shirt at Goodwill. I had to use what I had to figure out how big of an insert to make but if you buy yardage you can make it as big as you want (just don't show your hiney). I cut a triangle that was 17 inches at the bottom and 20 to the peak.

You'll need to pin your skirt now, leaving the height of your lace triangle open. Sew your seam with a straight stitch. You'll be left with a skirt with a slit in the back. (As you can see I already had sewn the waistband on. You can do that step first if you want to.)

Pin your lace in place under the skirt. Sew up the sides with 1/4 inch seam.

Trim as close to the lace as you can without cutting into the thread.

Now sew on your waistband. You need to start at with waistband seam and the skirt seam together with the right side of the skirt facing the wrong side of the waistband. The raw edged of the skirt and waistband need to line up. Sew using a zigzag stitch, stretching the waistband while letting the body of the skirt feed normally. Take your time with this.

I know I'm missing a few pictures, but it's really just a basic maxi skirt with a little twist. There are plenty of other tutorials out there that do a much better job of explaining it!

I did a little modeling with this skirt!