Friday, January 21, 2011

Shirt refashion

So my mom gave me this shirt. It has a super cute print, but she thought it made her look large. It was a pheasant type shirt, and the way it was gathered and the place that the waist fell did the same thing to me. Soooo, it was destined for something else. I hung on to it for a few weeks, until inspiration hit me. I was looking at the bottom part of it, and thought it would make a cute skirt for Ava.

Here is what it started out as.


I cut the shirt right above the high waist. This shirt had a great band on the waist that would make a great waist for a skirt! That top part of the shirt also has me thinking...I will post if I do something with that.


Here is what the band looked like.


All I did was fold the band in half and sew that, leaving an opening for the elastic.




To put the elastic in, attach it to a big safety pin. Then you can inchworm the safety pin through the waist. Believe me, this is much easier than other methods I have tried. Just picture me trying to get elastic into pj bottoms with an open hanger. Yeah. Use the safety pin method.

I used very skinny elastic, because the waist was just this size after I folded it in half and sewed it. It was also what I had on hand. Start your elastic at your opening. I usually hold onto the other part, the end, with my teeth so it doesn't get sucked in.

After you have your elastic all the way through, sew the ends together. This does not have to be pretty. I always have the hardest time getting them to stay together while I am trying to slip them under my presser foot. Once the ends are sewn, sew up the opening.

Distribute the fullness of the skirt equally, then sew the elastic in place by sewing along the seams and at the front and back. This should keep the elastic from moving when you wash it, and bunching when it is worn. I am not sure if I explained that well, but I can't think of any other way to say it. If you are confused, say so and I will try again! You don't have to hem it because it already has a hem! Yeah!

Put it on your girly and enjoy a very cheap and easy skirt! I am going to keep my eye out at DI and yard sales for other shirts this would work with.

This was her pose!

We also got our craft on Sunday. The girls and I made lots of new hair bows. Fun!

4 comments:

Cami said...

Way to go Gina!!!! You are amazing! My sister does stuff like that all the time...I wish I knew how/loved to sew like that.

Stacey said...

That turned out adorable. I think that is really neat. I love the hair bows too. Where did you get your pattern for the bows? I would love to see how you did them.

gina said...

Stacey, I can't remember where I saw how to do those bows...somewhere online. It is easy, though. For the ones that look like flower petals, you take fabric cut into circles, fold it in fourths, then sew along (in big gathering stitches) the bottom, open part of circle. You have the end that looks like a point, then the end that is the cut edges of the fabric. Sew on the cut end, through all layers. You sew through all of the circles folded in fourths with one piece of thread, then gather them together when they are all on. Tie and your done. The other ones are the same circles, except you sew them together on the pointy end, leaving the open cut edges out. If that doesn't make sense, I can post some pics. Let me know.

MelisaH said...

You are sooo creative!!! You make me say WOW all the time! What a cute skirt on an even cuter girly!