Saturday, May 14, 2011

80's skirt turned summer top

Remember these HUGE skirts we wore in the 80's.  I found these at my local bin sale for a dollar, and wanted to turn them into a simple cotton top for summer.  With my arm in a sling, I need things that are easy to get on and off.  I recently made a pillowcase dress for my niece, and thought "Why not turn the skirts into pillowcase style tops?"  It was super easy.  First, on choosing the skirt, go for a print you like that has the following:  elastic waist, and enough fabric to cover you from side to side.  I try them on by placing the waistband above my boobs to make sure the circumference is right and there is enough length in the fabric to hang as long as I want.

Next, wash it and dry in hot water to make sure you get it to shrink first.  Remove the waistband from the skirt.  Now take the skirt and lay it down on your worktable with the sideseams on the side, and if there is a backseam, lay in on the back so the solid piece of fabric is in the front. 

Taking a sleeveless shirt that fits you well, lay it on the fabric and trace the armhole with chalk as a guideline for how deep to cut it.  If the skirt has pockets like mine did, I cut the armholes where the pockets were and it was perfect. 

Turn under the arm seams., I serged mine first, but you can turn them twice and get the same effect.
Turn the top edges under 1 inch and form a casing for your ribbon or elastic.  I cut mine in a V in front and straight in the back.  You have to make a V shaped facing for the front if you want the V neck.  It is a little more tricky, but not too difficult. 

Once your casing is stitched up, thread a coordinating ribbon through and tie off.  Be sure to try it on and measure the length of the ribbon with the top on you before cutting it.  I run my elastic through the casing with a safety pin, and then pin one end to the other so it doesn't come undone.  Then I tie it off where I want it and slide the knot into the center back to hide it.  You can cut the ties so that you tie them into bows on both shoulders.  I used a thin black elastic, and I love how it turned out.

1 comment:

Melanie E said...

Nice Karan! You're always so creative!!