I bought several silk/cotton scarves at the Atlas silk workshop in Jiyaliren, near Hotan, Xinjiang, China. I decided to sew skirts from some of them.

Each skirt required four different scarves. These were first pressed and then cut to the desired length. Next I sewed them together down the selvedges to form a tube. The seams were pressed flat. I then ran a single line of straight stitch around the bottom of the tube and pressed over the top of the tube to form a hem. This hem was stitched using straight stitch.

The next part of the project involved making a waistband. I took some navy blue cotton twill fabric and cut (with pinking shears) an ~20cm strip that was the length needed to fit around the top of the tube. I pressed this in half long-wise and pressed under ~1cm on each long-side. The tube was placed inside the band and the pressed under edges of the band sewn to the top of the tube, ~1cm of band was left unstitched at the beginning and end. I then measured the elastic for the band and stitched a line around the waistband to create a tube for the elastic to be threaded into. The elastic was inserted and the ends sewn together. I then closed up the ends of the band by laying one end inside the other, folding the edge of the top section over into a hem and stitching it all closed. The final step was to spread the elastic evenly through the waistband, ensure it wasn’t twisted and to sew across the elastic at three places around the band to prevent it from twisting.

There is no front or back to these skirts, so they can be worn with any combination of scarves at the front.
I’ve been wearing the first one quite a bit over the last week (that’s why it’s a little wrinkled in the images!). It is incredibly easy to wear and very comfortable.