Thursday, October 13, 2011

RE-PURPOSE...SHIRT TO SKIRT TUTORIAL

I've had this shirt in my closet for about 2 years. 
I haven't worn it for at least a year. And I can probably count on less than one hand how many times I wore it at all. But tonight I found the perfect use for it!! A skirt for my eight year old daughter.
(sorry, I hung the belt a little crooked)
This project took less than an hour. So here we go....
First, make sure the length of the bottom of your shirt is a good skirt length. My shirt was a 'Juniors' Medium and the finish product from belt to hem hits my daughter right at the knee. So I was able to cut the top of the shirt off just above the belt line...

(somehow I want to re-purpose the top of the shirt...)
Next, I turned the material inside out and pinned down my edges to sew my first seem. I decided to do a double seem, but that is totally up to you and your project.

This picture shows my first seem is about a quarter of an inch from top, and my second is about 1/4-1/2" from the first...

Now your shirt mostly resembles a skirt but with WAAAAY to big of a waist for a little girl. So I hand-wound my elastic thread onto my bobbin, and then pinned the back of my skirt exactly where I wanted my elastic to run. My original plan was to have 3-5 sewn lines of elastic in the middle of the back of the skirt. But after sewing the elastic in, I realized that I needed to go the full length of the back of the waist...just a helpful hint.

(this pictures my original pin marks for my elastic to run. Keep in mind that I ended up sewing my elastic from  side-seem to side-seem(the entire length of the back of the new waist))

The back of the waist should now look something like this when it's done...

And since the shirt's original ties are going to stay as a tie back for the skirt I AM FINISHED!!!

And vwalla!!! Doesn't she look SMASHING!! :)


HAPPY RE-PURPOSING .....