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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Upcycling for Jessica

My daughter had several t-shirts from Target that she never wore.  Now they are out of season and will be too small to wear next summer.  I decided though, to upcycle them for her doll, Jessica.  I kept a few other t-shirts that were well worn also just in case I needed a little bit of knit fabric for embellishments.

 

These are some of the t-shirts I had to choose from.  One great thing about using children's t-shirts is that you already have several finished hems and seams to use.  Less work = more time = more goodies!

Below you can see that I was able to make a full short-sleeved t-shirt and a skirt from just one 5-T top.  The pattern I used is from the Scientific Seamstress and you can find it here.  She has other great patterns that I can't wait to try out.

As you can see, her pattern uses finished hems, which she shows you how to quickly make if you are using regular, unsewn knit fabric.  However, I just made use of what I had.  I deconstructed the top, and kept the ruffled pieces for later.  Since the top only has one hem to utilize, I chose to use it for the doll skirt and sleeves.  I just added length to the bottom of the doll top pieces and hemmed them separately. 

I loved the little flower on the 5-T top, so I cut it out and sewed it on to the doll skirt I made from the same top.  The lime-green stitching at the bottom along with the flower is so cute!  I don't think it shows up too much in the photo, but this little top was worn often by my daughter!  But, it has a new home and use and she loves it just the same.  So, don't overlook the gently used clothing you may already have to work with.

I added some trim to this little pink skirt and this little outfit actually went to my daughter's best friend for Christmas.

Another little skirt for Jessica...

The pink t-shirt had the sweetest little sleeves so I cut those out carefully and used them for doll sleeves.

Out of three t-shirts, I was able to make three skirts and two tops in just a few hours.  Hopefully soon, I will have time to use the yellow and green t-shirts to whip up a few more outfits.  

 

I hope you enjoyed visiting today.  Maybe this post has inspired you to upcycle some of your clothing into "new" fun things!  I'll be back soon to show you a quick method to make a doll skirt.

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