Another re-purpose men's t-shirts into a women's ruffle skirt



I'm still working through a pile of clothes that my husband decided needs to head to Goodwill. I pulled a couple of his old t-shirts out this week thinking that I would attempt to make a skirt for myself and I think that it turned out pretty darn good. Heck, if it didn't what would I have to lose?! I thought I would share with you how I made it.

I started with two old shirts that were in coordinating colors. They were both a size small so I didn't have as much material to work with as I would have wanted, so if you try to make one, the bigger the better!


The light brown was was a bit larger around the middle, so I used that as my base. I cut from armpit to armpit straight across. And then cut up one side seam so that you have a huge rectangle.



Then I took the bottom hem of the coordinating shirt and cut an inch and a half off of that to use as my drawstring. Set that piece aside, you won't need it until the end.





Then I started using what I had left of the shirt I used as my base and cut as large of a strip as I could. I even used the print in the skirt, I thought it was kind of funky.





Take that strip, measure it, and then cut it into equal parts for your ruffle. I ended up with nearly 6 inches, so I cut that into two equal strips of nearly 3 inches each. Because you are trying to salvage as much material as you can, my two strips were actually four (the seams were cut) so you will need to sew a new seam making a long seam on each of your pieces. That seems complicated, but you will end up with two long strips of fabric with one seam down each center of your material.






Then set to work on your other shirt. This shirt will be used only for the ruffles (aside from the hem that you set aside for your drawstring). I cut up the side of one seam to start with.






Then I continued to cut 3 inch wide strips from the bottom up. These are the materials that I ended up with: From top to bottom, 1 1/2 inch hem for the drawstring, 2 pieces of sewn together 3 inch wide strips from your base layer, Four 3 inch wide strips of the coordinating shirt, and your base layer.







Now you are ready to ruffle your layers. I set my machine to the highest tension setting and the longest stitch (on my machine it's an 8 tension and a 4 length stitch). You then sew at the top of each strip of fabric that you have. Do not back stitch. It should look like this when you are done.





Then line up your first strip along the bottom of your base right sides together. I had to stretch the ruffle out a bit and still used one and a half strips on the bottom layer to make it fit the length. Sew along the first layer.






Add your second ruffle of coordinating fabric hitting about 3/4 of the way up past your first layer. Pin and sew across.




Continue to add layers until you run out. I wish I had one more layer, but I ran out of material, so I stopped where I did, about 8 inches from the top. I serged the top edge to prepare it for making my casing for my drawstring.





Fold your skirt in half now making sure your ruffles are flat (I usually hold it together and shake it down). Sew the side seam from top to bottom.





Make sure you leave about two inches at the top open on your seam to add your drawstring.



I like the rough look of the serged edge so I folded the top layer and made the casing on the outside. Iron it down into place about an inch down. Pin and sew into place. Thread your drawstring through leaving equal lengths of material on both sides to tie.



That's it! Two shirts made one cute ruffle skirt!










19 comments

Travis/Rose Johnson said...

amazing & cool :D

Andrea said...

You are busy! I love this. I especially like that you made it for you!

Sew Much Ado said...

Cute! We must be on the same page because I just posted a t-shirt refashion into a little girl's ruffle skirt this week too. I guess great minds think alike :). Thanks for joining We Did It! Wednesday!

Unknown said...

Oooooh, LOVE this! I usually make stuff for my little ones, but I love the idea of making something for myself or my sisters!
If you're interested, tomorrow we have a friday fun find party that we'd love for you to link up to!

Becky@Beyond The Picket Fence said...

That's adorable. I just posted my first refashion earlier this week. Now I want to try this!

KimMalk said...

Oh my! Uber creative - great job!

Gladys said...

Great idea! I just found your blog and I have to say that its great!! I'll be stopping by again!

Carolyn @ My Backyard Eden said...

I love this! Thanks for the tip about ruffling and the tension. I have a bag of goodwill shirts that I'm going to go look through now!

Thanks for linking up to Make it Yours day!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

What a cute idea. It turned out so well. I might have to go raid my husband's closet!

Thanks so much for linking up to my party!!!

XOOX
Jen

Lisa said...

Hi! After making a couple of tshirt skirts, I realized that the easiest way to add a drawstring was to make the bottom edge of the tshirt the waist... The casing for the drawstring is built in!

Love your blog! I just found you today.

Lisa

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

Darling! Featuring this at somedaycrafts!

Bridget said...

Love it, such a cute idea I'm going to try it for my girls!

Crys said...

This is lovely!!!! I am going to find a green and red and making matching skirts for me and my daughter! I love that you used everything from the t-shirts!!!! great job!

Crys said...

For Christmas lol I meant to put that in there :)

Jami Nato said...

really cute. i need to make one of these for my daughter as a test before i rock this one!

Unknown said...

I usually make stuff for my little ones, but I love the idea of making something for myself or my sisters!

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DIY Crush Blog said...

Loving this tutorial! Come and link up on my blog every Wednesday on my LET'S SEW craft linky!

Sourav said...

I love making new stuffs with old t-shirts, thanks for sharing this amazing tutorial.

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Forest and Lakes said...

It's amazing for old t shirts DIY!blank t shirts

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