Remember the jeans I refashioned into a pencil skirt for me a couple of days ago? Well, here they are again!
All done!
I really liked the nice big hem on these jeans and knew as soon as I started the skirt refashion for me that I wanted to do a toddler skirt for Arden. How handy that Homemade by Jill also had a tuturial for a baby skirt as a guest on another blog I’m following – Kojo Designs! I wonder if she had leftover parts from her jean to maternity skirt refashion as well? Her tutorial was for an infant, so here’s my stab at it with a few changes to resize to toddler:
So, here’s where I cut the bottoms off the jeans to make my pencil skirt.
Remember me?
Next, I had to sew the pieces together to get a tube of the appropriate width. Arden has an 18″ waist, and I figured that the pleats would take up about 8″, so I wanted to start with a 26″ tube. I used a ruler and rotary cutter to get a nice straight line.
Straight edges
I sewed the pieces together using heavy duty thread and a denim needle. I finished the seams with an overcast stitch (you can zig zag or serge if you have a serger), and then sewed the finished seams down to prevent any rubbing.
Overcast edges
I cut the height to 7½” and finished the top edge.
Finished tube
Next, I cut a tube of t-shirt material 5″ x 18″. I did one piece instead of two in Jill’s instructions, but either way works. I went with 18″, so the completed tube would be a little smaller than A’s waist and help it stay up. I switched thread and put in a ball-point jersey needle. Probably overkill on a simple seam but since I have the needles I should use them, right?
t-shirt tube
Pinned pleats
I sewed the pleats in place with a 1/4′ seam. Finally, I folded my t-shirt tube in half with the seam inside. With raw edges together, I pinned the tube to the skirt. I sewed it on with an overcast stitch to finish the edges and allow it to stretch.
All done!
So, now for confession: I adjusted all the measurements in my tutorial because somehow I had measured Arden’s waist as 21″ and completed this whole project based on that. What’s that saying - measure twice, cut once? I blame it on a toddler who won’t sit still for even a moment! Anyways, it’s still cute on her and doesn’t fall off or anything. It will just fit her for longer! She’s wearing it to daycare today even if it is a little too big.
Extra roomy toddler skirt
Linking to:
I love how that turned out! Too bad I don’t have a daughter to sew for…guess my niece will be getting a new skirt soon! 🙂
How cute! I have a pair of jeans that I was going to put in the Goodwill bag… I think this is a much better option. Thanks for the inspiration.
adorable ! i really like these types of ideas !
That turned out SOOOO cute! Good job!
Looks so pretty! WIll have to try this. Thanks for linking to Craftastic Monday:)
great skirt. Just to clarify there is no elastic? Makes me sad I gave so many clothes to goodwill, lol
Right – no elastic! The t-shirt material provides the stretch, so if you need it to be more stretchy you could add elastic or make sure you use a shirt with more lycra content.