Funky multi-coloured circle skirt

My girls both attend dance classes and at last terms performance, one of the costumes worn by another class included a circle skirt that we all liked, and I just had to try out for my girls!

Here's my version!

I just made a basic circle skirt in lots of coloured strips - great for using up those scraps!:

And added the requested dark pink ruffle along the bottom - also made from strips of scraps!

Turns out it's the perfect skirt for running !

Who would have thought!

I've got lots of shiny, and sparkly material in my stash which I plan to use for some funky dance outfits for the girls!

Recycle an old t-shirt into a fitted top

How to turn an old t-shirt into a fitted top:

I used to love wearing big baggy t-shirts, and had quite a collection with lots of groovy designs on them!

Now - I really never wear baggy t-shirts. I prefer fitted clothes - and living in tropical Far North Queensland, t-shirts can be a bit too hot!

I've only a few of my t-shirt collection remaining, and they have stayed at the bottom of a drawer in my wardrobe, unworn for years now!

So I decided to try and recycle them into something I could wear!

 I took one of my t-shirts, bought in Japan about 15 years ago, that was very stretched (especially around the neck),  baggy and really unwearable as is:

Here's what to do, if you want to try this yourself!

First take one of your current tops to roughly measure the size you need to cut:

And cut sections from both the front and the back - it's up to you how long you want your new top to be. I like them quite short:

Now this t-shirt was especially thin, so I cut another section to double the layer on the front of the top. (sorry forgot to take a picture of this - but just cut the same width of the front panel - and as long as you can with the piece that is left on the botton of your t-shirt after you cut the main panel)

Here's a picture of all the pieces I cut for the next t-shirt!

Then place your front and back panels - right sides together and pin down the sides.  Add the extra layer for modesty behind the front panel:

Stitch down both sides, then double turn and stitch all the way around the bottom to make a neat hem.

Now you need to make the straps.

Cut two strips from the left-over t-shirt, 4 cm wide and around 30 cm long:

(they are longer in this picture - I ended up cutting them shorter later on)

Then for each strip, fold the edges in to the middle, then in again and stitch:

You should end up with two straps like this:

Now you need to pin your straps to your top.

If you have 2 layers of t-shirt at the front, push the straps between the two layers and fold the raw edges in towards the strap to neaten.

Pin all around and stitch :

Then put it on and wear your new top with pride!

Here's a couple of others I did the same with:

For the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

For lots more (over 100) of my free sewing tutorials go here!

Yellow dress to skirt refashion tutorial

Here's another clothes upcycle - for anyone who's new here, I love upcycling and in May I challenged myself to a whole month with a clothes upcycle project a day! (Yes I succeeded!!)

Some of those projects - and many many more from lots of very talented people can be found on this page - where you'll find a constantly growing resources of ideas for upcycling your old clothes! (well over 600!)
 Do take a look!!




------------------------------------------------------
My youngest daughter requested this refashion from a hand-me-down dress she didn't like.

She wanted it as a skirt- with a headband to match!

Here's the dress we started with:

I cut the top bodice, and the bubble base part off the dress:

So I was left with just a wide band to which I needed to add new elastic to make the skirt:

I finished the bottom of the skirt off with a rolled hem using my overlocker (serger)

And neatened the top edge of the skirt to prevent fraying - also using my overlocker (serger)

Then I ran a row of stitching around the top of the skirt - on the longest stitch length and highest tension on my machine - to ruffle the fabric up and help me pin it to the elastic:

The waist elastic length I measured from another of my daughters skirts and stitched securely into a band:

To help pin the skirt evenly to the elastic, folded the band in half both ways to find 4 even points - where I put in pins.

Then did the same with the skirt - and matched up those 4 parts pinning the two together:

Then I stitched the top of the skirt to the elastic, using wide zig-zag stitch and stretching the elastic as I stitched:

Then I turned the elastic in on the skirt..

And top stitched it down again with a wide zig-zag stitch,stretching the elastic as I stitched:

And there we have a new skirt:

With a headband to match using the remaining fabric:

And of course the obligatory cool pose to show it all off!!

For the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

And for plenty more sewing tutorials for all levels of sewing abilities, do take a look at 
My Free Sewing Tutorials Page.

How to add a zip pocket to shorts in 5 easy steps and 15 mins!

You can add a useful pocket to your shorts like this in 5 steps and 15 mins! 

Just perfect for carrying your keys and phone when you go out for a walk or perhaps a jog!

You can add this pocket to any item of clothing , and make it just the size you need!

Here's how:

Step 1.

Get the item of clothing you want to add your pocket to, 

 2 pieces of fabric the size of the pocket you want

and 1 zip the size you want!

Step 2.

Place one piece of the pocket fabric on the outside of your clothes item where you want it to be, and pin into place.

Then using a pencil and ruler, draw a rectangle where you want the opening for the zip to be - use your zip as a guide for the size:

Step 3.

Machine stitch around all sides of the rectangle you have drawn...

and then cut a line down the centre of the rectangle (through both pieces of fabric)

Cut the corners like this:

Step 4.

Push the pocket through to the back of the main clothes fabric. If you like you can press this to help you keep it flat:

Then pin the zip into place, so the part you open is showing through your new hole!

Stitch around the zip using the zipper foot on your machine to get nice and close:

Step 5.

Turn to the back of your pocket - and pin on the other piece of pocket fabric:

Then stitch around all 4 sides to enclose the pocket!

DONE!

Now pop in your keys and phone - and head on out for a lovely walk!

For the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

 Click here for more simple sewing tutorials of 5 steps in 15 mins