The Twirly Skirt

Ohmygosh I'm SOOO happy to have this done! I am seriously not a seamstress, but this idea has been rolling around in my head for a while. When looking for an Easter dress with Squirt, we tried on a super cute white crinkly elastic waist skirt that she loved. I loved it too and could picture her romping all over the place in it. The only problem was the price. Now, I don't mind buying nice children's clothes now and again but it was $30 and I just couldn't see myself paying that for something that would most likely be designated by her as purely playclothes. So I decided to invent my own.

We bought the girls new twin beds to help them share a room more efficiently, and parted with Squirt's old full size and Munchie's little toddler bed. I donated and Craigslisted some things but there was a pair of white sheets I chose to keep. The fabric is so soft and they are a really high thread count. As I looked at them I just imagined how much it would cost to buy cotton like that per yard and kept them for some unforeseen purpose.

Here was a purpose.

For this I hacked into the fitted sheet.

First I cut the elastic edges off the sheet so it would lay better on the ground and I could actually do something with all that fabric. Then I stitched the edges of the elastic together and found that it made a sweet garland for a baby shower I was hosting. Hooray for happy accidents!

The background was subtle, with hints of color in the different ribbons and the butterflies, but my absolute favorite part was the white fitted sheet elastic. (Hopefully my friends won't kill me for this picture. I didn't actually take a picture of the decorations I made.)

But on to the skirt. I took pictures along the way but have checked 3 separate memory cards and cannot find where on Earth they went - so I'll just give the play by play.

• I started by cutting out a basic 1/2 circle skirt, but I cut it large enough that it could have a gathered elastic waist.
• Then I grabbed my scissors and sliced it in a spiral, making sure the cuts would line up at the seam.
• Put the right sides together and stitched a 1/4 inch seam so that the seam and raw edges would be on the outside of the skirt.
• Stitch this down flat with a 1/8 inch seam.
• Using the top skirt as a pattern, I cut a lining out of the top thin fabric from an old bed skirt. Hem the skirt and the lining then stitch together at the top.
• Measure around the top opening of the skirt and cut a long rectangle of fabric to form and elastic casing.
• Add elastic, pray that you didn't forget the right measurement since the child is at school and you're not waiting until she gets home to try it on and finish.

Which was all well and good, but it needed some flowers. Which I DO have pictures of :)

Then I slid the whole thing into the sewing machine, stitched a spiral to hold the flowers in place, and called it good.

FYI: I suck at sewing. Most of what I do is make it up as I go, so unfortunately this is not a tutorial, just an overview of what I did. The best part? Usually when you wing it things can turn out okey dokey.

I'd say she approves.

45 Minute Polo Skirt

"Hey, I recognize that shirt skirt."
"Mommy, you look cute!"

Ahhh, what a glorious compliment. As Squirt is getting older and more opinionated, those don't happen very much.

There is a rule in our house that no clothes can go into the donation pile until I rummage through them first. Actually, I just shove them all into the bottom two drawers of my dresser waiting until inspiration strikes. The only thing is that I am a terrible seamstress and am often petrified of attempting to refashion apparel.

Does anyone else feel this way?

It probably comes as a surprise to a few. My mom had a B.S. in Clothing and Textiles - back when that was a viable study option. She sewed all the time. Every special dress I had was made by my mother. In sixth grade she made a beautiful tea length dress with 3/4 sleeves for Easter. It was stunning. Ruffles were the style back in the day and it had a ruffled skirt edge, ruffled sleeve edges, and a square ruffled yoke at the collar. The fabric was a soft ivory with a pastel floral print (the sort of print I'd rather die than wear now) and it belted with a wide lavender satin sash. Oh, how I LOVED that dress and could not wait for her to finish it.

On each of the ruffles she added narrow lace trim. Ever the perfectionist, my mom didn't like the way the lace laid on the dress so she removed it and stitched it all on by hand in order for it to lay the way she wanted. When it was finally finished, I was able to wear my Easter dress for the first time on Mother's Day. Mom would rather take the time to do things perfect than just get them done.

I am not like that.

Nor did I learn to sew at home. Her perfectionism prevented her from teaching me how to sew as she wanted to take out my stitching and redo it so everything was just-so. As a result, clothing scares me.

But I love stripes, remember? And The Hubs put a fantastic dark navy polo with thin white stripes into the give-away-or-do-whatever-with-it pile. I want a skirt out of that fabric so badly that I'm willing to try, but it's a nice shirt (Banana Republic) and I'll feel guilty if my refashion fails miserably since it would have been nice and usable to someone if I'd have been willing to donate it. Which led me to pull a different shirt out of the pile and practice on it.

Using a skirt I already have, I measured how wide the waistband should be and how long I wanted the skirt to be.

I then drew the outline on the back of some wrapping paper to create a pattern.

I knew that I wanted the stripes to match at the side seams so I chose to cut each piece out separately. Sliding a rotary cutting mat in the middle of the shirt made it easy to pin/cut the layers individually.

Take the first cut piece and pin it so the stripes match up just right, then cut out the second pieces.

Seam the sides and try it on to be sure nothing needs adjustment. Once the seams are just right, finish them with a zig-zag stitch or serge the edges. The skirt is just the right size to fit me in the waist as it is but I don't want the fabric to get stretched out and goofy as I pull it over my pear shaped figure. So I folded the top down an inch, pressed and stitched it to create an elastic casing. I added some 3/4 inch elastic, stitched off the opening, and am totally in love with my new skirt.

The best part about using the shirts is that I used the existing hem and don't have to finish off the bottom!

I love it. It's made me feel pretty confident to tackle the other shirt I'm drooling over. Now I just can't wait for Spring to wear it!