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
