diy recycled t-skirt




Step 1. Find a t-shirt large enough to go around your hips with some extra space, unless you'd like to make a body con skirt, in which case I recommend leaving out the pockets. I used a faded XL mens tee from the thrift store. A bit wrinkly, but I'm no perfectionist. Lay it out flat and get some scissors.
Step 2. Cut across from armpit to armpit, leaving a tube of fabric on bottom. Keep the other stuff aside.





Step 3. I used another skirt to trace and cut out an a-line shape for my skirt. If you leave the skirt as wide at the top as at the bottom, you'll get a fuller skirt; just remember it will require more gathering later when we do the waistband...

Step 4. Using the remainder of the t-shirt, cut out the wide fabric pieces that will become the waistband. The width will reflect half of your waist circumference. The height will be halved during sewing. I didn't really measure mine too carefully, since jersey knits can be nicely forgiving.





Step 5. Make a straight cut  across each sleeve, from the armpit to the shoulder. These will become your side pockets.  Now you're all ready to start pinning and sewing! You can throw away the last bit of neckband material left over.




Step 6. Let's start with the pockets. With good sides together, pin and sew the sleeve/pockets to the sides of the skirt starting an inch or two below the top of the skirt. Do this with both pieces of fabric. *Note: if you chose not to cut the skirt after Step 3 and you do want pockets, cut the sides of the t-shirt open so you can insert the pockets. Otherwise you can leave the tube intact and pocket-less. Or, consider using the sleeve fabric to cut out some patch pockets.
Step 7. Now open out the pocket flaps and align the two pieces good sides together, pocket to pocket and skirt to skirt. Sew from the waistband down along the entire side of the skirt; when you turn it inside out, the flaps will stay inside and form pockets!

{{Disclaimer: it's late and I'm really tired and mucked up the numbering in the photos, so please excuse the addition of a second step seven}}



Step Seven. Now for the waistband: sew the edges of the two pieces together to form a tube, then fold it open lengthwise so the seams don't show and you have a double sided band to affix to the skirt.
Step 8. Mark the front, back and side points on both your waistband and the skirt. With the skirt turned right side out and the waistband raw edges up, pin the waistband to the skirt at those points.







Step 9. Sew the waistband to the skirt, leaving a small section on one side open so you can insert a drawstring or elastic later. You're probably going to need to stretch the waistband to fit the skirt as you sew. If you didn't make an a-line skirt, you'll either need to do a lot more stretching or a lot more gathering at the waist.
Step 10. Try it on! Make any necessary adjustments to the snugness of the waist with elastic.





This is the random photo I pinned after falling in love with the cut and buttons. I sewed pewter-black buttons down the front of my skirt. Check {here} to see how I styled it for the first time!
















 Let me know what you think!
♥ Meghan

1 comment:

  1. Best t -shirt to skirt tutorial I've seen! Thank you!
    Colleen

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