Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Try it Tuesday!: Men's Button Up Shirt Skirt

**Be sure to enter our sweet little blog giveaway from Friday by tomorrow before my next post (owl ring + aviators)!  Click here for details at the bottom of the blog post from Friday!**

This is the last craft try-it-out for June that I just completed today!  Although not totally completed, but enough to show you what I tried out;)


The men's button up shirt skirt remake!  There wasn't an actual tutorial to follow, but it was based off of this shirt skirt from the blog Fashion Indie (click photo to follow link):


I remembered another blog I randomly follow "Adventures in Dressmaking" and found a tutorial she posted for this shirt skirt (click photo to follow link):


However, I knew this type of skirt wouldn't work for myself, so I briefed her instructions and headed out on my own...this is just a brief synopsis of what I did!

 I started with a shirt of Justin's that was stained and not caught until after drying - a large H & M one.

 I cut off the sleeves and collar - now granted, I cannot for the life of me find the 2 pairs of fabric shears I have so I used kitchen shears for everything!

 Ham watched...

Then I cut off the top of the shirt, realizing I probably didn't have to cut off the collar since I wasn't using that area.  I cut pretty much at bottom sleeve line to what I thought would be my desired length of skirt.

Next, not having any idea if it'd fit, I tried it on.  It was tight on the hips so I thought adding a slip and maybe sewing it under later would be sweet.

 It was also super baggy at the top...

I used pins to make a top hem evenly and also gather "darts" in different areas to gather the skirt to my waist.

 Same on the back.

Pre-sewing of darts.

The inside - I didn't make a legitimate hem...just attempting to finish something I usually wouldn't and folded it over only once so the raw edge wasn't even tucked under!

The darts I folded in where the pink heads of pins are.

 I keep using white thread so you probably can't see it, but this is my dart sew to help give the skirt some figure to be more form fitting.  I've only sewn darts once before, so here's a tutorial on sewing darts.

The outside look of the dart.

 This is just an example of how after trying on the skirt with the sewn darts I found some of them didn't gather enough so I added a second level of darts!

You can't really tell, but this is a photo of about 3 darts on the skirt!

So to finish it off, I needed to cover the stain that would be right smack in the front...

I sewed on a pocket using the same technique as the cardigan I remade.

The mostly finished product with the skirt under the shirt...

Same...

 With a black butterfly belt from mark...

And probably my preferred one, the weave belt from mark!

So...to recap, I never finished the top hem as the darts themselves were holding it well...for now;)  Also, I would recommend a shirt that fits your hips better as I need to find a way to actually wear this in public without the buttons pulling...and exposing...to much!  Also, a preferably heavier, thicker shirt to keep the sun from shining through!  It's really nice to keep the top of the skirt near a button so you can use that as the top instead of installing a zipper or other such connector.

Also, as part of June's craft mission, here's the other attempts at tutorials (click photo to follow to blog page):


This next month's try-it-out will be a men's polo shirt tutorial a friend posted on pinterest (click photo to get to tutorial) - I decided on this one because it'd be super cute for summer and finding men's clothing to remake in thrift stores is so cheap and there's so many of them!:


If you're up and interested in the challenge, let me know!  Finish it by August 1 and send me a photo to link up to!  

Happy creating!
xoxo

4 comments (+add yours?)

crazyhorse said...

Hello hottness! That skirt looks amazing on you! And you make it look so easy! Was it as easy as it looks?? The darts scare me ;)

AshleyM said...

Yes it really is as easy as it looks!! Total time was about an hour and a half...although I didn't finish the hemline nor figure out how to keep the buttons area totally closed;) but it is functional! The darts were actually easy!! I did have to re-add more dart-ness to some to gather it more to fit better after trying it on, but I just added the dart rather than pull the old one. I used a longer stitch for the darts in case I wanted to pull them, though, to make it easier! Try it! I decided not to find a "perfect" man shirt to use and first practice with one that isn't so perfect to use (ie. so thin)

HLK said...

Darts. I remember my mom talking about darts sometime in my childhood. I thought it sounded too much like fart to be a sewing term. Greg stains too many of his clothes (though thanks to Norwex much less than before)... so I love the thought of redeeming once-loved but now-ruined clothes. Man I wish I lived near you so I could give you a ton of stuff. Oh and sexy a** my friend!

AshleyM said...

LOL! oh heather! i wish you lived closer too!!! and with the new lens we have on the camera, i can't do full body photos on my own (although i could self timer it, eh?) b/c it's too wide angled or whatever so what you see is what you get for now!