.:Tutorial Tuesday - Tiered Skirt:.

I decided that I want to try to start re-purposing old clothes. So many talented people are able to make great things out of their old clothes, so I figured I could start with something small and see how it goes. I had this old tank top that I used to wear under shirts, but haven't worn in years. It has a nice lace trim, so I thought that would be cute on a skirt. I love black and white, and I've got quite a good fabric stash of black and white fabric from old projects, and I figured I could make something out of it!

Here's what you need:

- fabric scraps

- old tank top/shirt

- sewing machine/accessories

You'll need to start off by getting a measurement for your little gal to know how big to start with your first layer. I did 14 inches wide by 4 inches long. I did the 4 inches because this is going to be my waist band, so I'll be losing 2 inches off of it once I make the band.

I wanted my next layer to be a little more wide, so I added an extra four inches on to the width. This layer was 18 x 3.

The next layer was 22 x 3.5.

And the last layer was 26 x 4.

Next, I took that old tank top, and cut off the lace trim from all around the bottom and from the neckline.

Here's the skirt, laid out in the order it will be sewn in. You can see that most of my layers are in a couple of pieces or more. That's what you get when you use scraps! Don't worry, it still turns out super cute.

Now you'll want to go through and sew together your layers' pieces, right sides together. I did this with as small of a hem as I could.

Then I put each strips' ends together, right sides, and sewed a 1/4" hem to form a tube.

I did this for all of the strips EXCEPT for the lace and for the bottom layer. I figured it would be easier to sew those together while they were still straight, long pieces. I pinned the edges together, with right sides together...

And sewed all along the edge.

Then I put the lace trim down, and top stitched all around. And connected the two ends like I did for the other layers.

Take each of your pieces of fabric (except for your waistband piece!), and sew along the top edge with your sewing machine set to the longest stitch length. This is how you're going to gather your skirt layers. Pull either the top thread or the bottom thread (don't pull both!) to gather your pieces of fabric. They will look like this.

Let's get to work on the waistband. Take this piece of fabric and iron down 1/4".

Then iron down another 1 1/2-2", depending on how big the piece of fabric you're working with it. I know, this looks weird, but for my skirt, this piece is really just the waistband and that's it!

Take your waistband and first layer piece, and pin them, right sides together. Make sure your gathered edge is the edge you are pinning to your waistband.

Then sew.

Move to your next layer. Pin the gathered edge to the bottom edge of your first piece.

Sew.

Do this one last time with your bottom layer.

Now we need to finish the waistband. Sew around the bottom of your waistband, leaving a two inch hole for you to put your elastic through.

Using a safety pin, put your elastic through the band. I measured my little girl's waist, and then took off 1/2-1" so that it would fit snugly.

Sew your elastic ends together.

Sew your opening together.

Done!

Put it on your cute little girl and admire your skirt made from scraps and an old shirt!