What is it about skirts that little girls love? It is a major struggle for me to get my daughter to wear pants or shorts. It usually requires a lot of talking it up and compromise on my part. Or a lack of anything else to wear due to my slacking on the laundry. :)
Well, if my little girl is going to insist on wearing a skirt everyday of her life, I need to at least provide her with an assortment to choose from so we're not wearing the same one over and over and over again.
Enter: my quick cheaters method of skirt sewing. (Or really, I guess it is skirt resizing. However you want to look at it.)
Really what this takes is finding a cute (preferably low cost) already made skirt at the store, and sizing it down.
I have scored great deals on knit mini skirts in the women's section at H&M. When sewing for kids, the key really is to find mini skirts, because they are already the right length for short child legs. This past spring I found a few different skirts on sale for $3 and less that I thought would be adorable on Hailey.
Step 1: I began with a skirt of Hailey's that is already the right size and set it on top of the bigger skirt to gauge sizing.
Step 2: I then factored in about 3/4" to 1" extra to account for a seam allowance. Use a rotary cutter to cut off the excess.
Step 3: I ran it through the serger. Easy peasy. If you don't have a serger, simply use a zig zag stitch so the fabric is still able to stretch like it should.
This skirt quickly became one of Hailey's favorites. It has the best colors and the proper amount of fantastic twirl.
This works for making pencil skirts as well. Hailey has a couple of those she sports too. If you spot a great deal, this is an easy, minimal effort way of sewing a skirt. No hemming, no threading elastic through the waistband; just one cut, one seam and then you're done!
(Depending on the length of the skirt and the size of your child, you may need to hem a little bit. Hailey wears a size 5/6 and the length of skirts has been perfect on her. If you need to hem, but don't want to, just roll the waistband up. It works, and no one will notice, promise. :)
