Thursday, August 02, 2012

Super Simple or Something Special

I have discovered that skirts made from t-shirts are, by far, The. Most. Comfy. Skirts. Ever. Starting out with tees that already have a built-in waistband just makes the conversion process that much easier.


First, the basic idea: You're going to cut the shirt straight across from underarm to underarm and flip it upside-down. If you started with a shirt that fit your waist well, you're done already. Seriously! I like to leave the bottom unhemmed if I'm working with jersey fabric since there's no worry about fraying. If your shirt was a little big, you may want to take in the sides a bit, just to make sure you don't have a wardrobe malfunction.



Now if you want to get a little fancier, that's pretty easy too! For example, instead of cutting your shirt straight across, you could curve up toward the collar in the front and back. This will give a skirt that has a bit of a men's-dress-shirt vibe, higher on the sides, lower in the front, and even lower in the back.


Or you could add a bit of a feminine flare with ruffles. Cut "C" shapes out of the remaining fabric of the collar and sleeves. Then straighten out the C and sew its inner edge to the bottom of the skirt.


Another option would be the addition of a fabric remnant from your local craft store to create your own maxi skirt. In my case, the white shirt I used was far too thin to stand alone, but worked quite well as an underskirt for the also-too-thin fabric remnant. I also decided to insert a length of elastic in the waistband this time, instead of relying purely on the elasticity of the shirt fabric to hold up the weight of the skirt. I just cut a slit on the inside of the waistband, threaded the elastic through, and stitched the slit back closed. You could even make yourself a matching headband if you trim a strip off the fabric remnant.



Come back soon, and I'll show you what I did with the top of that white tee!

Tshirt skirts


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