Pallet for Home: Upcycle me something pretty! part 3

Upcycle me something pretty! part 3

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Here's one of my favorite's. I feel so pretty in this skirt and would wear it all the time if it wasn't so darn hot outside still. All that fabric is kinda warm so if you live in a colder climate than Arizona, which is pretty much anywhere else, it would be perfect. If I was still in Seattle, I'd wear it every Sunday.

It's a long maxi skirt with ruffles made from a bed sheet. I also remade the shirt too.

Let's get to it.

Here's the before and after for the shirt. Not terrible, but it needed a little feminine touch.

First I cut off the collar. I didn't use it again so you can discard it.

Next I cut off the sleeves. I just hemmed the edge of the sleeve and didn't do anything fancy.

Next I lined up the front of the shirt and trimmed the neckline a little larger like shown.

Cut up the sleeve and save the strips. They will become the ruffle at the neckline.

Open up the sleve to get the pieces for the ruffle. Fold them in 1/2 and press. Gather the raw edge and serge or zig-zag to prevent fraying.

I serged then turned the fabric to make a simple hem, folding the button placket to make sure everything lays flat and nice.

Here's what it looks like with the neckline sewn in place.

Then I added some pin tucks to the front and the back. Make sure you line up the placement and length to get them even from side to side.

Here's the front of the shirt, and the back.

Now for the ruffle. I wanted it simple so I layered the two pieces cut from the sleeve, one slightly larger than the other. Pin the ruffle in place starting from the front of the shirt working your way back. I sewed it the first time with the ruffle upside down, then folded it over and top stitched it to the shirt. This hides the serged edge and finishes the look.

Here's a close-up of the neckline.

Now for the skirt. I'm using a full size bed sheet. I used one of my maxi skirts as a pattern. Fold the sheet in half and lay the skirt on top and cut about 1 inch from the edge for seam allowance, plus a little extra at the waistline so I can still get it over my hips, and for the elastic waistband. I didn't want to mess with a zipper this time.

This is the waist line. Cut it slightly curved to ensure a more feminine fit. Seam up the sides of the skirt, add an elastic waistband, hem and set aside.

Fold the remaining sheet in 1/2 and 1/2 again.

Then fold the piece into a pie shape from the folded corner.

Measure the longest distance but still having all 4 layers of fabric underneath.

Keeping the end of the tape in one place, move the tape across the bottom of the pie wedge marking the fabric every few inches at the same length from the top corner of the wedge. Cut along this line and you will have a complete circle. Unfold the circle and lay flat.

Starting from one edge cut inward in a spiral trying to keep the width the same all the way in.

After cutting the spiral you have a huge length of ruffle. I used my serger and roll-hemmed both sides of the ruffle. Then after hemming the bottom edge of the skirt, I started sewing the ruffle on the skirt starting at the bottom side edge. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I just sewed it on and didn't pin it at all. I guess you could pin the ruffle in place but it really would take a ton of pins and I would inevitably get poked several times.