Moms, are you thinking about Spring? Is your daughter going to outgrow her long sleeved shirts before next Winter? Here is an Upcycle solution..... You will need 3 long sleeve knit shirts.
You will finish with 3 short sleeved shirts and a matching skirt.
Deconstruction:
- Cut the sleeves off of the long sleeved shirts.
- For a sleeveless shirt for hot summer days then cut the sleeve close to the seam line (on the sleeve side, not the body side of the seam). Turn the raw edge of the sleeve scie under and stitch.
- Open the sleeves up by cutting along the underarm seams. Using 3 shirts gives you pleanty of fabric to make a skirt that will match the sleeveless shirts.
- You will need a 1 inch wide elastic long enough fot the waist of your daughter's skirt. Measure your daughter's waist. Get this length of 1 inch wide elastic tape.
- Lay out the open sleeves matching the cuffs together. Pin the sleeve pieces together along what were the under arm seams.
- Sew the sleeves of the shirts together along the original underarm seams. If you have three shirts (this gives you 6 sleeves) this will give you enough fabric to make a skirt for your daughter.
- Pin the elastic to the cuff end of the fabric that you have created. Stretch the elastic to fit the length of the cuff end of the fabric and pin.
- Stitch the elastic in place.
- Check the length of the skirt. If it is too short add a ruffle on the bottom with additional fabric.
- To add a ruffle, cut the skirt so that it is of even length. Cut a 4 " strip of fabric twice as wide as the skirt at the bottom. Gather the ruffle by basting along one long edge of the ruffle. Sew the right sides of the skirt and ruffle together.
- Pin the side seam of the skirt. Sew the side seam of the skirt in place.
