Even though I live in the Antique Capital of Southern California, I rarely purchase clothing at the many antique and vintage stores that surround me. Most of the time, I just can’t bear to pay the inflated cost when someone else has to find me the “good stuff” when I love to find the “good stuff” on my own at thrift stores and garage sales. But, there are times when I pop in to check out a new antique mall and find something I just can’t pass up. This time it was a women’s maxi skirt striped with trim and multi-colored embroidery for $20. It was far to heavy and crazy to stay a maxi skirt for my taste so I hacked off the bottom, making myself a quick, above the knee skirt. The excess skirt material was just enough to make Pumpkin a fancy t-shirt dress. Two pieces of clothing made the $20 price tag a little easier to stomach for this thrifter.
Basic Steps:
Supplies: rectangular skirt piece (already hemmed), old t-shirt, 1 1/4″ elastic (I dyed my white elastic to a vintage brown color)
-Mark waist on the t-shirt at cut off excess fabric length
-Cut elastic the same length as the circumference of the shirt + 1″ for seam allowance.
-Sew elastic in a loop with a 1/2″ seam allowance.
-Divide the elastic into fourths and mark. Divide the skirt top into fourths and mark. Matching 1/4 marks, stretch the elastic while sewing to the skirt (with wrong side of elastic overlapping onto right side of skirt). A zig zag stitch will allow the elastic to stretch after it’s sewn.
-Sew the other edge of elastic onto the bottom of your shirt using a zig zag stitch.



















{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Love it. I think I’ll show my daughter how to make one of these for herself… she’s just learning to sew
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Love both the dress and skirt. The fabric is amazing.
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Lovely dress. We can also make the skirts with men’s shirts in different designs and colors at home without wasting money.
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I need to make me some of these! So cute!
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