Mens Shirt to Cute Skirt

My husband just gave me a pile of shirts that have become surplus to his requirements because they are looking too old - usually round the collar or sleeves or have been stained somehow.  They are a perfect upcycling resource so I thought I would do a tutorial on how I took an old shirt and turned it into a cute and 100% usable skirt!

SO here goes...

You will need

Scissors

A mans shirt

thread to match

I used a sewing machine but you could do it with a needle and thread

Pins

Tape Measure

1. I started off by measuring how long I wanted the skirt to be - I worked from my hips as I knew I was going to do a wide waist band.  Then I marked this line onto the shirt and cut along this line

2.Next I took the bottom piece of the skirt and sewed about 1cm away from the top edge all the way round from button to button hole.  This stitch is going to be gathered so if you are using a machine set it to the longest stitch length that you can and leave about 10cm thread on each end. 

3. Now take the bottom thread and gently pull - the fabric should start to gather and you can start to tease the gathers through the fabric until it matches your waist measurement.  It already looks quite cute right!

4. Now I need a waist band.  I wanted a nice line running down the skirt of the buttons so decided to use the front of the shirt as the waist band.  I cut out the front along all the seams therefore cutting the collar and sleeves off and then repeated for the back.

5. I then folded the fabric in half to create a neat top of the skirt.  I did this so that the two button holes matched exactly on each half.  I then removed the spare buttons and folded each fabric to match the first one.  I then trimmed the excess off to leave a neat rectangle.

6. I measured my waist and pinned the pieces of the waist band together at the sides.  This needs to be done right sides together.  If you have a mannequin use this to help you out. Simply pin it onto the mannequin to get the right size and then take it off and pin right sides together while the fabric is flat.  Sew along that line.

7. Now lay the waist band flat inside the skirt.  Put the right side of the waist band facing the inner side of the skirt and pin all along.  You must make sure that you line up the buttons at this point and this is also a great time to even up your gathers.  Sew just below your line of gathering stitch.

8. Now remove the pins and bring the waist band up.  Re-fold it over so that your button holes match exactly and then fold the raw edge upwards so that you have a neat fold over the top of your raw gathered edge.  At this point if you try it on your mannequin or you then you will see that having such a large waist band means it needs to come in again.  Take the centre back point and then fold in from each side of that point as if creating a pleat.  Pin.

9. Now sew all along your fold at the bottom of your waist band - be super straight as this is a top stitch that will show!  Then return to the pleat and sew the top of this.  It should look like this.

10.  Now trim your loose edges and there you have it a cute skirt - plus even though it has loads of buttons all you have had to do is straight line stitching - no button holes and no hand sewing on of buttons!  

I hope you have fun making yours - as always send me a picture and I'll give it a share!

x

Heart Bunting Tutorial

As I have been posting my heart bunting up on my etsy shop this week I thought some of you might fancy making some of your own.  I am loving heart bunting at the minute - and although we are approaching that time of year when the shops fill with heart themed products I am of the opinion that a bit of heart decoration and bunting is totally acceptable all year round.  So here goes - I hope you have fun!

What you need:

Fabric of your choice, stuffing, ribbon, heart template (or great free hand skills), needle and thread, scissors, pins and chalk or pencil.

1) Choose your fabric and cut it a little bit longer in height than your heart template to make for ease of cutting.

2)Like so . . . .

3) Now fold your fabric backwards and forwards until it is stacked in a square like you see in the picture.  You need to ensure you don't do too many hearts at once otherwise you won't get a neat shape - especially be aware of this if you are using thicker fabric.  Then pin your heart template onto your fabric and cut round it.  If you are going to make 4 hearts on your bunting then you must end up with 8  individual hearts cut out.

4) You then should end up with 4 pairs of hearts.  Place them right side of fabric facing towards each other.

5) Now mark where you want the ribbon to be on the hearts.  I chose towards the bottom of the curve as you can see.  You need to ensure you mark this in the same place on each heart to avoid a wonky garland.  Mark on both sides of the heart.

7)  Now cut out your strips of ribbon.  I was making 4 hearts so needed 2 longer pieces of ribbon and 2 shorter pieces.  The longer strips are for the edges so that it can be hung up and the shorter pieces go in between the hearts.  The length is your choice but I used about 10cm between each heart and 20cm for the 2 edge ribbons.

6) Now move across to your sewing machine if you are using one ( if not just set up on a flat surface).  Place your ribbon (long piece first)  in between your two heart pieces and leave a small piece out the edge where you have marked. Now start sewing from just below that point.  Once you have sewn over the ribbon I find it helps to take the long piece and bring it round to where you started sewing so there is no risk of accidentally catching it as you sew the edges.

8) Continue sewing round the edge of the heart until you get to 2 cms before your next mark.  Then take a shorter piece of ribbon and attach as instructed above and shown in the pictures.  Continue sewing round the heart and stop sewing about 2cm before you reach the first stitch you did.

9) You should end up with something that looks like this.

10) Use the ribbon to help you gently tease the heart out through that gap you left so that you have right sides of the fabric facing you and just a small section remaining to be sewn.  

You now need to repeat the above instructions on each heart.  Always remember to work out how the fabric will turn right side so that you get the ribbons attached to the right side.  For example if you want to attach a heart to the right hand side of the heart below the ribbon will be sewn into the right hand side of the next heart.  When you turn it right sides out you will have the ribbon attached to the left side of the second heart and sitting to the right hand side of the one below.

11)  So now you have this line of hearts all linked together and ready for filling

12) Now this is where you pop into a comfy sofa, stick the telly on and merrily fill your hearts with stuffing.  Once you have done this take your needle and thread and stitch the little gaps closed. Cut loose threads and there you have it you are done!

Please do share pictures of your heart garlands with me.  Either post them here or pop over to my facebookpage  and when you do I'll give them a share.  Have fun crafting!

x