Friday 31 May 2013

DIY vintage long skirt to pinafore dress

Hey!
Here is a little dress I made using an old vintage skirt I got for a £1 in a charity shop. I was just going to turn it up and make it into a skater skirt but I thought I had loads of fabric left that I could make a pinafore dress from! 

Here is the before:




It had a nice fit actually, with pockets and an elasticated waist.


And here is the after pics:








 Pinafore dress DIY, watch Michael Kors (fake from ebay), Vans Authentics from Office, Grey T from H&M

How I did it:


  1. Turn up the skirt. Try on, pin it to desired length, overlock the raw edges (or just use pinking shears to finish), hem on the machine. 
  2. With remaining fabric cut out a square to use as the top part. I don't have exact measurements for this, I just used trial and error depending on how wide/high I wanted it to come on my front.
  3. Sew your square right side to right side with more of the skirt fabric (only if you have enough), or another cotton. Leave a gap to turn right way out, and iron.
  4. Add button holes using a function on a machine, or by hand if you're clever. Add them to the two top corners where your straps will be fastened.
  5. Pin the square onto the waistband and topstitch across neatly to join the two. Make sure you try it on so you're happy with where it sits on the body and that its even.
  6. With remaining skirt fabric make straps. Mine were 4cm wide and I cut out a piece of fabric 9cm wide and as long as I could. 
  7. Sew strip into a tube and turn inside out. Press with a hot iron making sure the seam is straight down the back of the strap. 
  8. Measure how big each strap needs to be and cut your long strap to size. I crossed mine over but you don't have to!
  9. Hem the straps' raw edges. Pin on straps at the back, try on to make sure you're happy, then sew the straps down.
  10. Add buttons to the other ends of the straps.
  11. Cut off any dangly threads and you're done.
This was surprisingly easy to do and I'm really happy with how its turned out. But I think its definitely not warm enough to wear yet, and I'm definitely too pale!
If you have basic sewing knowledge you could make this from any old skirt. Just as long as its long enough to make the pinafore part and straps. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. In the future I will try and do a step by step of how I alter my clothes as that will probably be easier to understand!



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2 comments:

  1. Is there a way where you can do a step by step with pictures?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is such a useful tutorial!! I made one myself and it was really easy! Thank you

    www.thepaperswallow.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete