I found this pale green and white striped knit skirt at our thrift store for $1.49. The fabric is very soft with no pills. It is a straight style, with few seams, in a large size. That translates to yardage :).
My daughter Heidi is growing so fast that her summer nightgowns from last year were too small. I welcomed a break from remodeling projects and took a few measurements, transferred them to this schematic and drafted a pattern.
I wish I had a video elf so I could show you how easy it is to draft a knit pattern like this. Perhaps another day? The front and back pieces are identical. I simply drew a fold line on a large piece of newsprint. Then took 1/4 of the girth measurements and the exact length measurements and transferred them to the paper, connecting the side seams, neck and arm hole curves with a French ruler. I added 3/8 inch seam allowance. Her nightgown doesn't need extra ease because the knit fabric gives her room to move.
To prepare the skirt for recutting, I cut off the waistband and the center back seam.
I placed the nightgown front on the fold to cut out and found that my skirt was too full to fit. No problem, I redrew it just slim enough to fit and folded over the excess.
Since the back of the original skirt had a seam with a kick slit, I had to add a seam to the back of my nightgown. I just cut it out with a 3/8 inch seam down the back and serged it together. Knit has a tendancy to stretch out of shape. To help, I lengthened the stictch and steam pressed to help it shrink back. The first time the item is washed and dried it usually recovers it's shape.
To construct, I sewed the side seams. Then turned under the arm holes 3/8 of an inch and hemmed with a cute tricot stitch.
Then I cut 26" of 1/4" width elastic. This was 6" for each neckline plus 8" for each shoulder strap. I cut several 1 inch wide strips of knit from the scraps and stitched them together quilt binding style. Then I used my longest straight stitch to sew the elastic down the middle of the wrong side of the strip stretching the elastic as I went. When I came to the end of the elastic, I cut off the excess knit strip.
Then I stitched the elastic strip in a circle and pinned it to my front and back neckline, centering everything. This created a finished neck edge and the shoulder straps. I stitched on top of the previous stitching on the necklines and left the shoulder straps free. What a cute ruffle!
To finish the nightgown, I used the same tricot stitch to hem the bottom, but this time I stretched the fabric as I went. This made a nice ruffly hem with a scallop. An alternative to the scallop hem is to add the same ruffle as around the neck.
Cute, Comfy, and Cost effective. What more could a girl ask for?
Don't forget to leave a comment; it makes me so happy :).
That is way cute! You make it look so easy!
BEAUTIFUL! My girls love nightgowns, this would be right up their alley.
You are amazing. Love the creativity
This is great! I sew the same way and sewing is always cheap for me. When people talk about how expensive sewing can be, I tell them they are doing it wrong! People are too intimidated to try drawing their own pattern–if they only knew how easy it was. Keep preaching, sister.
I love this, you did a great job and it’s so pretty. I found a thrift store jumper that I holding onto so that I can make it into something else for my daughter. She’s only two, so I’m thinking a cute summer skirt….
This is great! If only I knew how to sew. (I’m hoping to learn soon. ) I always love seeing what you’re doing and hearing your advice, Angela!
Wow great idea! I wish you were my neighbor, I just finished changing one of my old denim skirts, into 2 pairs of shorts for our ds- 2, and in need of shorts. I made pockets with the scraps, recycled the elastic and still have a zipper to use.
Oh thats so cute! Thanks for sharing.
both beautiful girls and dress..love it..
Absolutely adorable!! As they say, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”!! I don’t think the skirt was trash by any means, but the meaning behind it is the same!! You are so creative – I love it – as I am sure Heidi does too :)!!
You are amazing! Thank you for taking the time to document how to do something like this.
Love it!!
Say, what kind of sewing machine do you have (not the serger). My old machine won’t sew decently on knits(sucks it into the bottom- I’ve tried everything).I am looking to upgrade soon, as the machine has other issues too. Thanks!
Lorelie,
I have an old New Home which is made by Janome. I love their machines. You might try using a thinner needles. Say a size 9 or 10 ball point. The right needle fixes a multitude of problems and too thick a needle will shove your fabric into the throat plate. Also start in a little from the edge. It seems fine fabrics started right on the edge will shove down too. HTH.
Beautiful and your daughter is beautiful too š
Cute, cute, cute! I need to do more “re-fashioning”. Thanks for the step by step, it was great.
This is ridiculously cute!! I can’t believe you got that out of that plain skirt!