I am on a t-shirt kick this week. Did you see the scarf and dress I made for Kayla already? I thought it would be fun to paint stripes on an old t-shirt (that got accidentally bleached – DOH!) and turn it into a ruffled striped skirt for my daughter. I did this project a couple of years ago and my daughter still wears the skirt. While is is almost ready to be passed down on the hand-me-down train I thought we could retake a look at it once more before that happens.
Supplies:
Scotch Blue Edge Lock Tape
Old t-shirt
Martha Stewart Crafts Fabric medium and acrylic paint or fabric paint
Foam roller and tray
plastic to cover work surface
sewing machine
1 1/2” non-roll elastic
scissors or rotary cutter and mat
safety pin
1. I deconstructed my t-shirt. I wanted to keep the bottom edge of the t-shirt so that I didn’t have to create another hem. The middle part of the shirt was for the top part of the skirt.
2. Then I cut open the t-shirt loops and started taping my fabric in place onto some plastic drop cloth to prep it for painting. I did horizontal stripes for the top and diagonal ones for the bottom soon-to-be ruffle. I just used the width of the tape as my guide for the width of my stripes.
3. Then I used a foam roller and some white acrylic paint mixed with Martha Stewart Craft Fabric medium and rolled two coats of paint on it. The paint seeped in but I didn’t want stark lines so that was just fine with me.
4. After it was completely dry I ironed it with a press cloth to set the paint and then I washed both pieces to take the stiffness out of it. Then I trimmed the pieces to even out the edges.
5. On the longest and widest stitch I ran the bottom piece through my sewing machine to create a small gathered ruffle. I also cut my top piece to give it an angle and then sewed one side back together.
6. I pinned the ruffle to the top piece of the skirt right sides together and sewed the ruffle on. I then top stitched it so the ruffle would lay flat.
7. Then I pinned the sides of the skirt right sides together and sewed.
8. Next I pressed the top of the skirt under 1/4” and then under 1 3/4” to create a casing for the elastic. I sewed that leaving an opening for my elastic to slide in. Using a safety pin, I slide my elastic through the casing and then sewed the elastic together. Finally I sewed my casing shut.
