Upcycled Skorts

Hello!  I hope you enjoyed Easter.  We had a wonderful Easter morning, church service, and lunch.  Then the rain came.  But that's ok - we can use the rain.  I will admit, after all the tornadoes that came through last week, I am a little weary!  The tornado that hit Arlington close to I-20 is only miles from my home. Scary, huh?  There was a lot of damage, but miraculously there were only minor injuries and NO fatalities!  Thank you, God!

Today I wanted to share another upcycling project with you.  I took two pair of skorts that  my daughter never wore from last summer and turned them into four skirts for 18" dolls!  Keep in mind that these were done quickly and the night before my daughter's birthday party at the American Girl doll store.  I wanted to make skirts for her friend's dolls as party favors.  They turned out just as cute and the girls loved them.  So, here we go.

Before and after.... you can see the size 5T pink skort and the upcycled blue doll skirt.

1.  Take the skort apart - cut off the waistband (the shorts will come out, too); then cut the skort straight down the middle and straight down the back.  This leaves one finished side seam already sewn.

2.  Cut off any excess from the top of the skort to the desired length needed for the doll skirt.  Leave about 1" extra for the waistband.  No exact measurements here, just eyeball what you like!

3.  This is the skirt after cutting and trimming.  We are now ready to add the elastic for the waistband.

4.  Using a 10" length of 1/4" elastic, find the middle of the elastic and pin that to the middle of the top of the skirt (on the inside).

5.  Now pin the elastic to each side of the skirt.  In the photo below, the material has been stretched out for a visual.

6.  You will now sew the elastic to the material.  Tack down the material to hold the elastic in place.  Hold the material at the middle pin with one hand and stretch out the elastic to the width of the material (from the top pin to the middle pin).  Only stretch the elastic, taking care not to stretch the fabric past its regular width.  Stitch down the elastic using a zig-zag stitch.  Continue with the other half of the skirt using the same steps above.

7.  When finished, the elastic will go back to its original length, drawing the material up.

 8.  This is what it will look like from the right side.

 

9.  Fold the elastic over toward the wrong side and pin to hold in place.  Using a straight stitch, sew the elastic in place, stretching the material out slightly as in the steps above.

 

10.  Shown after sewing the elastic down.  It isn't as finished as making a casing, but it is quick and the doll doesn't care!

11. The right side after sewing the elastic down.  Okie dokie, eh?

12.  The last step is to sew the sides together.  (Sorry, no photo.)  Pin the wrong side of the skirt sides together.  Sew together using a straight stitch.  You can use a zig-zag stitch down the side or serge to finish. 

All done!

I loved these particular skorts because of the ruffles.  Less work for me and so cute for the doll!

I hope you enjoyed the project and have lots of fun making your own.  I would love to see photos so be sure to email them to me!

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