tshirt skirt tutorial!

Happy Monday! 

So I've been wanting to make new skirts and dresses for summer but I've been a little nervous to get started. What if I mess up and waste all this material? Well, luckily for me I found this old Goodwill men's t-shirt under my bed (I bought it for another craft I never did). So I figured to build my confidence and get back into sewing, I'd make a skirt with this guy so if I mess up, it's no big deal! I think it turned out pretty good (it's a little big, but I can live with that).

So here's how I made it:

I started with the old tshirt and laid it out on a big piece of cardboard. *If you have a cutting mat, that works a LOT better. I need to get one. 

I found something to use for a straight edge that would go from one side to the other. I made sure it was right under the armpit of both sleeves: 

and....CUT! 

The leftovers: 

I then cut off the sleeves and the top, right under the collar. This was going to be used for the "band" of my skirt at the top.  

pin the sides together and sew! I used the "stretch stitch" to allow it to stretch once it's on my body. Otherwise it wouldn't fit over my hips. Make sure and put it around your waist to make sure it's going to fit. If you find it'll be way to big you can cut off some off the side before you sew it closed. 

stretch stitch:

At this point I put the band aside and grabbed the "body" of my skirt. It was HUGE so I had to gather it so I could fit it around my body. For this, I used a very loose stitch and didn't finish it. Once it's all the way around, you can gently pull the fabric along the stitch and it gathers! 

Once gathered, I grabbed my band again and placed it inside of the body of the skirt. I carefully pinned it all the way around and sewed another stretch stitch all the way around (make sure it's under the stitch you used to gather it.) 

OOPS! Broken Needle. No idea how- but that was a good learning experience too! 

Once I had my stretch stitch (finally) finished, I had to go back and take out my gathering stitch. Pretty simple with a seam ripper. Then I put it on and that's it! Simple new skirt for cheap!