Ruffle T-Shirt Skirt

In case you missed my guest post at Couturier Mommy last Thursday, here is a repeat of it.

I made this skirt out of two t-shirts. They were both a pale green color--not my favorite but this was an experiment that turned out well. I used a piece of stretch jersey (5% spandex) for the waistband.

I used these two shirts. The second one is my Cleveland Half Marathon shirt. I was sad to cut it up but it had some fading by the neck, so I decided to give in and cut it because it matched this one:

I took a picture of it for nostalgia's sake. I can move on now!

First, I cut the fabric for the ruffle. I made my ruffle 4" wide and without any hemming on either side. I don't really love hemming, and jersey fabric won't fray!

I cut the skirt from the larger of the two shirts. The waist is large enough to fit around the largest part of my hips with an extra inch for seam allowance. I left the hem of the shirt on the bottom of the skirt. The ruffle will cover it up. I made the skirt A-line by just eyeing it up and cutting a straight line down the edges.

Next, I attached the ruffle around the bottom of the skirt. I pinned it over the hem of the t-shirt.

This picture shows how I tried to 'just cover' the hem so the skirt would be as long as possible (I'm a tall girl!)

To make the flower, I took strips of 1.5" wide t-shirt fabric, gathered it, and then cut a circle the diameter that I wanted the flower embellishment to be. I pinned the first row of ruffle around the edge of the circle.

I started sewing that row and kept sewing in a circle (without pinning). I tried to keep each subsequent row of ruffles close enough to cover the last row's stitching, if that makes sense.

There's the finished flower! I attached it to cover the seam of the ruffle (which ended up in the front and off to the side a bit).

The next step is to make the waistband. I made it a lot tighter than I thought I'd need it (this was an experiment...) but it worked really well. I usually make my yoga skirts to fit my waist minus 3". This time, I made it minus 6" and it is very comfortable, yet secure.

Cut two pieces of your waist's fabric to be 14" tall and then your waist measurement minus 6" (x-6).

Sew up the 14" sides with right sides together using a stretch stitch. Fold the waistband over with wrong sides together.

This next part may be a bit unconventional, but I wanted to only gather the back of the skirt, leaving the front part flat. I gathered the back part just enough so that the fabric diameter of the skirt's waist matched that of the waistband.

Then, I pinned the waistband in place (right sides together).

I used a stretch stitch to attach the waistband to the skirt. This is the outside view.

A stem iron will help to rid the skirt's waistband of wrinkles.

Here's a picture of the finished skirt from the back (waist is folded over).

Here is the front view. I like how the flat front looks.

It's been so fun for me to experiment with 'found' fabrics like "upcycled" t-shirts and other clothing.

Bathing Suit Cover-Up Tutorial

It's been hot! I have been taking my son to the pool a few times per week. I need some sort of a bathing suit cover-up. However, after I got halfway done with this one, I was discouraged to note it was not going to be flattering on an almost-9-months-pregnant woman.

I will be saving it for when I'm done with this pregnancy in about 4 weeks!

...and after I lose the baby weight and feel like putting on a bathing suit...which could be next summer...

I used three t-shirts to make this cover-up. I determined how much fabric I could use from each shirt (I cut around any printing on the t-shirt to just use plain fabric) and planned a finished length of 35". That meant seven 5" strips. I made the strips 44" wide which was the full width of the t-shirts.

Note: I cut the white strips 6" tall to allow for seam allowance after assembling the strips. I also made sure to use the hem of the shirt at the bottom of the cover-up so I wouldn't have to do my own hem.

After sewing all the strips together and then sewing the assembled strips into a tube, I folded the top strip down about 1/2" and pinned it into place. Then I pressed it.

This will be the elastic casing.

I sewed around the whole top of the pressed-down piece but left a tiny opening.

I cut a strip of 1/4" wide elastic long enough to securely gather the fabric just below armpit level. I inserted my elastic into the casing and ran it through using a safety pin.

I securely stitched the ends of the elastic together.

Then, I sewed the casing shut the rest of the way.

I determined the straps needed to be approximately 18" long. I wanted the straps to be 2" wide in their finished form. I sewed two tubes and then turned and pressed them flat. To attach the straps, I tried on the whole cover-up to determine where to place them. Then I stitched them into place.

Somewhere along the line, I made a belt (I forgot to take pictures). I used leftover fabric from two of the shirts, stitched it together, turned it, pressed it, and sewed the open end together. It's about 3" wide and 44" long.

I made the belt loops 2" x 4". I sewed them together, clipped the corners, turned them, and pressed them flat.

I sort of had to guess where to attach them, but ideally, I would have measured where I wanted the belt to hit. Since my waist feels it is 100x its normal size right now, I just guessed!

Another free project! I love using old t-shirts to make new things. These shirts were such great colors, too.

I can't wait to get my 'regular' figure back so I can try it on. I have found that horizontal stripes are not the most flattering on my pregnant frame.

If you wanted to make this for a toddler or small child, you could just use one t-shirt, not strips. That would allow you to skip the first few steps.

Burlap Wall Art

Here is another inexpensive way to make some DIY decor for around the house.

All you'll need is some burlap, fabric paint, shapes to paint around, masking tape, acrylic paint, and foam board. (I got my foam board at the dollar store for $1.)

First, you'll lay out your shapes on the burlap. You'll also want to tape around the shapes (my shapes are post-it notes) to create a border.

Take the fabric paint and foam brush and apply the paint around the shapes. You'll want to dab with the brush, not stroke, to avoid getting paint under the shapes.

Carefully remove the masking tape and shapes. Let the burlap dry.

I didn't take any pictures of the next steps, but I painted the edges of the foam board after they were cut to the proper sizes. Then I used hot glue to attach the burlap to the foam board after it was dry.

I had the burlap and paint left over from other projects. I also had everything else around the house (I free handed the leaf stencils and also the middle flower stencil) so the only thing I bought was the foam board, making this a very frugal craft for me!

Pillow Shams with Fabric Paint Tutorial

I made these lilac pillow shams to go with our bedspread (which is in storage)...and embellished them with inverse stenciling.
The bird motifs match the bird theme wall art I shared here.

To fill them up, I had to use two standard pillows!
I think my pillows may just be a little flat, but maybe I made the shams too generous in size.
Oh well, that way they won't look lost on our king-sized bed.

The shams tie on the inside:

If you want to make some large pillow shams, you'll need (for each sham):

three 3"x17" strips for the ties

one 36" x 44" piece for the sham itself.

I prepared the ties first. To do this, I sewed each 3" strip into a 17" long tube. Then I cut it in half, sewed up one end, and turned them. Then I pressed each one flat.

For the sham, I folded the large piece in half so it was 36" x 22" and sewed around like a pillow case. I used fabric that was 36" wide, so it had a finished edge on two sides. On the bottom side, I zig-zagged to avoid any fraying.

For the top edge, I folded down the hem three times. I wanted the finished length to be about 30" but didn't want a very deep lip on the sham itself.

Before sewing the top hem, I pinned the ties into place. I used three sets per pillow.

I sewed around the edge and attached the ties in one step.

Now comes the fun part. Painting!
On the right side of the fabric, I placed the silhouettes I wanted to paint around. I used painter's tape to mark off a small area around the silhouettes. I taped the shapes down from the bottom using the painter's tape, too.

Place some paper or cardboard between the layers of the pillowcase to prevent the paint from bleeding through to the back!

To do the painting, I used a foam brush and fabric paint (same stuff I used in this tutorial).
You can't use brush strokes for this, you have to dab the paint around the shapes to avoid getting paint underneath the shapes.

It probably would've been better to wait for the paint to dry before removing the tape and shapes! But I couldn't wait...

I'm pretty happy with how the shams turned out.

If only our house was done and we had our bed and bedspread out of storage--I want to see how they look!