Saturday, July 2, 2011

I needed something to wear today, so I made a skirt!

Sorry... There are no photos or links just yet... My actual computer has been sent away for repairs so until at least next Tuesday, all I have is my iPad. There's no taking decent pics with my camera and getting them downloaded until I get my computer... And well, it's just a little too much effort to go back and forth for links on the iPad. I'll add it all in later in the week.

Yep... I'm good like that :)
Well... Not exactly, the skirt is a little wonky and I definitely see ways to make it better next time...
But, it's wearable. I really did wear my new skirt today - out in public and everything. Nobody looked at me strange so I guess it passed the test :)

But for real, I've seen several tutorials out there in blog land about how to make cute little skirts with the yoga style fold over waistband and also ones for making a skirt with a t-shirt. So today I kinda combined some ideas that I've seen and did my own!

Awhile ago I bought a men's XXL basic t-shirt in anticipation of specifically making a skirt for myself with it. I'm proud to say that I actually used the shirt for it's intended purpose, and actually finished the project as well.

This was a really simple way to make a skirt and I definitely plan on doing it again!

Simply lay out your t-shirt flat and use a ruler as a guide. Cut the width of the shirt right underneath the arms. This will give you the longest length of skirt to work with. Plus, you already have a hem on the bottom of your t-shirt so this will save you a stitch or two. :)

Now, cut rectangles from the upper portion of the shirt. This will need to be 1/2 the width of your waist (because you'll have two sides, so that will make it your full waist measurement. You can cut this a little bit smaller than your waist measurement so that the waistband will actually stretch some and therefore stay on your waist. Remember, it's t-shirt fabric... It stretches.

I made the mistake of not taking it in enough, and by the end of the day my waistband had stretched out enough and the skirt was falling off. I'll be taking it in some now so that I can still wear the skirt out in public. ;)

Next, you'll need to pin your two waistband pieces together at the short sides. Use lots of pins... This fabric will stretch and lots of pins helps while you are sewing. Now, sew up your side seams. It's a good idea to use a zig zag stitch or similar if you don't have a serger.

Fold the waistband piece in half over itself. Your wrong sides should be together. This part should now look like the waistband piece of a yoga skirt - cause well, it is. ;)

Increase your stitch length and tension to as loose as possible and run a stitch around the top part of your skirt. Do not back stitch at the ends. Gently pull on one of the strings at each end to gather your fabric. Try to spread the gathers evenly around the skirt to make it look the best. I didn't do so good at this step... I was lazy and my gathers are mostly in the back. Take your time... It will be worth it.

Next, pin your waistband to your skirt - with the skirt inside out, slide the waistband inside with raw edges together. Pin.... Lots!
The more pins you use here the better you will be. Make sure that while you are pinning that the gathers are still evenly spread out.

Once you have fully pinned your pieces together, sew them together.

Ta-da! You now have a new comfy skirt! And how long did it take? Surely no longer than 30 minutes :) even better!

I'll be making at least one more of these skirts, so I'll come back and share that one too.

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