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While I’m out on maternity leave, taking care of our sweet little Buck, I have a few amazing bloggers filling in for me to share some of their awesome refashions! 

. . . . . . . . . 

Hi there! I’m Hanna from Pearls & Scissors. I’m so honored to be a guest here on Merrick’s blog, and so happy to share this simple but sassy refashion with you.

I’m a huge fan of upcycling and I love refashioning old garments. Sweaters are a fountain of ideas when it comes to refashioning – there are so many ways to repurpose and remake them. But this refashion is still my absolute favorite. The idea came to me about a year ago and I made several skirts for my shop back then. Now that I’ve discontinued this design, I can share the process with you.

Here’s how you can make one for yourself:

You will need:
1) A sweater one/two sizes bigger than your usual size. The waist of the sweater has to fit your hips.
2) Wide elastic the width of you waist measurement.
3) Sewing machine, scissors, pins, and patience (like in any other sewing endeavor).

Step 1. Cut off the sleeves. Cut at the highest possible point (on my sweater it’s shown with the pink line). This will determine your skirt length. The longer the sweater, the longer you can make your skirt. Makes sense, right?

Step 2. Take the top of the skirt in a bit like the pink markings on the above picture, so there’s a nice little curve. Sew using a zig-zag stitch or with your serger. Also, zig-zag or serge the top edge of the skirt.

Step 3. Take your elastic and sew the ends together. I overlapped the ends by 1 cm/0.4” and then just zig-zagged them together. Now you have to pin the elastic to the skirt body. To do this, fold the elastic in half and mark the half point (one of them is the connecting seam), then fold it in half again matching the previous points and mark again at the fold lines. Or just divide your elastic length by 4 and make 3 marks at that interval starting at the seam line.

Now do the same things with your skirt body. The side seams are two markings already, so all you need to do is mark the center back and the center front.

Attach the elastic to the skirt body matching the markings on both to each other. I matched the elastic seam with the center back of the skirt. Make sure the elastic and the skirt body overlap (right side of the skirt is facing the wrong side of the elastic) by about 3 cm/1.2”. Pin in place!

Step 4. Last step! Sew the elastic in place at about 1-2 cm from the skirt body (shown with the pink line in the above picture). Make sure to stretch the elastic and the skirt while sewing, so you don’t rip the seams when putting the skirt on. You can use a straight or a zig-zag stitch, although the zig-zag stitch might be safer.

All done! Now enjoy your new skirt. A sweater skirt is perfect for the cooler months. Just pair with some colorful tights and boots and you’re good to go.

If you have any questions about the tutorial, let me know in the comments. I’ll try my best to clarify.

Thank you, Merrick, for having me!

Maternity Leave Refashions: Hanna from Pearls and Scissors (Guest Post)

While I’m out on maternity leave, taking care of our sweet little Buck, I have a few amazing bloggers filling in for me to share some of their awesome refashions! 

. . . . . . . . . 

Hi there! I’m Hanna from Pearls & Scissors. I’m so honored to be a guest here on Merrick’s blog, and so happy to share this simple but sassy refashion with you.

I’m a huge fan of upcycling and I love refashioning old garments. Sweaters are a fountain of ideas when it comes to refashioning – there are so many ways to repurpose and remake them. But this refashion is still my absolute favorite. The idea came to me about a year ago and I made several skirts for my shop back then. Now that I’ve discontinued this design, I can share the process with you.

Here’s how you can make one for yourself:

You will need:
1) A sweater one/two sizes bigger than your usual size. The waist of the sweater has to fit your hips.
2) Wide elastic the width of you waist measurement.
3) Sewing machine, scissors, pins, and patience (like in any other sewing endeavor).

Step 1. Cut off the sleeves. Cut at the highest possible point (on my sweater it’s shown with the pink line). This will determine your skirt length. The longer the sweater, the longer you can make your skirt. Makes sense, right?

Step 2. Take the top of the skirt in a bit like the pink markings on the above picture, so there’s a nice little curve. Sew using a zig-zag stitch or with your serger. Also, zig-zag or serge the top edge of the skirt.

Step 3. Take your elastic and sew the ends together. I overlapped the ends by 1 cm/0.4” and then just zig-zagged them together. Now you have to pin the elastic to the skirt body. To do this, fold the elastic in half and mark the half point (one of them is the connecting seam), then fold it in half again matching the previous points and mark again at the fold lines. Or just divide your elastic length by 4 and make 3 marks at that interval starting at the seam line.

Now do the same things with your skirt body. The side seams are two markings already, so all you need to do is mark the center back and the center front.

Attach the elastic to the skirt body matching the markings on both to each other. I matched the elastic seam with the center back of the skirt. Make sure the elastic and the skirt body overlap (right side of the skirt is facing the wrong side of the elastic) by about 3 cm/1.2”. Pin in place!

Step 4. Last step! Sew the elastic in place at about 1-2 cm from the skirt body (shown with the pink line in the above picture). Make sure to stretch the elastic and the skirt while sewing, so you don’t rip the seams when putting the skirt on. You can use a straight or a zig-zag stitch, although the zig-zag stitch might be safer.

All done! Now enjoy your new skirt. A sweater skirt is perfect for the cooler months. Just pair with some colorful tights and boots and you’re good to go.

If you have any questions about the tutorial, let me know in the comments. I’ll try my best to clarify.

Thank you, Merrick, for having me!

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15 Comments

  1. Soooooooooooooo cute!!!! I really need to try out one of these nifty sweater = skirt DIY's! xoxo

  2. Justek says:

    ołłł great idea! ^^

  3. Super cute idea 🙂 xoxo

  4. This is amazing! Best refashion I've seen lately to be sure! Wonderful idea. 🙂

  5. Cerise says:

    What a fun refashion! Love it!

  6. seriously amazing!!

  7. Ana says:

    Hana, this is such a wonderful refashion! Makes me want to go out and buy a sweater just so I could try it out! 🙂 And I assume, everyone who is making sweater socks out of the discarded sleeves is getting bonus points?!… 😛

  8. kate says:

    oh my god, this is amazing!!! i cut up old sweaters for the sleeves to make socks for my boots, but now the rest of the sweater i can use for a skirt! brilliant!

  9. zay says:

    this is so cute and seems so easy to acheive… definetly going to try it

    Zayda
    zlovesv.blogspot.com

  10. Hanna says:

    I'm so glad you like the refashion! Thanks for all the awesome comments!

    @Ana – Absolutely! Sweater socks rock!

    Hope to see you at Pearls & Scissors 😉

    xo Hanna

  11. I love this so much! It makes me want to go and buy a cable knit sweater just to make this…

    xo

  12. Phuong says:

    Oh my lanta that is beautiful! Such a creative and simple idea! 🙂

    ~Phuong
    http://classypeach.blogspot.com/

  13. A.Michelle says:

    This skirt is just too cute. I love how it was made from a shirt!

    http://www.thethriftyfashionista21.blogspot.com

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