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The Pencil Skirt
I found a really cool shirt at the thrift store and new immediately that it needed to be a skirt. I completed this project about a month ago, but my camera died so I used my husband’s. Unfortunately I don’t really know how to use his camera with all of the bells and whistles very well, so I’ll apologize for the quality of the photographs now. My lovely 13-year old daughter has volunteered to model my creations, so I’ll be retro-posting photos of her wearing my recent refashions. Thanks Dear!
I initially planned to make this skirt by folding the fabric on the bias, but I’m spatially challenged and couldn’t figure out how to cut on the bias and preserve the graphic as I imagined it. While fabric tends to lay better when folded on the bias, I’m perfectly happy with the way my skirt turned out as is. It reminds me most of a pencil skirt with a fold-over waist band. This is great because I can wear it looking very secretary skirty, just below the knee, or fold-over the waist band a bit more and have a shorter, snug, flirty skirt. I really enjoy the versatility. So here’s how to make your own:
You’ll need the following:
2 Tshirts (one large enough to wrap around your body) and 1 that is fitted to make a waist band. If you aren’t miniature like I am (being 5′ is occasionally handy ), you can remake with another shirt to form an additional width/length of fabric.
Measuring tape, ruler/straight edge, chalk, pins, scissors, needle and thread.
Here’s how to DIY:
1. Measure your waist where you want your waist band to sit. Next measure the widest part of your hips. Finally measure the distance between those to areas. Add 1″ to your waist measurement and divide by 2. Do the same for your hips and these are the sizes that you’ll chalk onto your fabric to create your skirt.
2. Figure out where on the shirt you want to place your design. I wanted my graphic to be off center so I just cut off the neck and sleeves and used the large square pieces remaining. Next, using a ruler or measuring tape, and chalk draw a line across the shirt fabric to match your calculated waist size. Then measure down the distance calculated between your waist and hip and chalk a mark. From this point mark your hip measurement parallel to your waist measurement. Finally, lay your ruler/straight edge from the end of your waist creating a diagonal line to your hip measurement with the chalk on both sides. This will form the basic shape of your skirt.
3. Cut along the guidelines, pin and sew the two sides of your skirt.
4. Cut a tube of snug fitting, stretch t-shirt to form a waist band. You can use whatever width you think would look awesome, but I went with a 4″ wide band. This creates a 2″ wide band once folded over. Fit the tube over the outside of the skirt and pin. Finally, sew the edge where the fabric meets to add the tube waist band to your skirt.
5. Pull up your new skirt, fold down your waist band, adjust the length and rock out!
Books with other t-shirt skirts that I own for guidance and inspiration:
Tease: Inspired T-shirt Transformations by Superstars of Art, Craft, & Design
Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt
Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt
Happy Refashioning!
