The Upcycled Sweater Series Part 5 - Sweater into a Skirt Tutorial

Today is the last part of the series, and it's also my favorite project out of all the sweater projects that I've done. Be sure to catch up if you haven't read Parts 1-4. Part 1 was a tutorial on leg warmers. Part 2 was about making mittens and a scarf. In Part 3 you can learn how to make arm warmers, and Part 4 you can learn to make an infinity scarf, and a sweater vest.

For the last project, I made skirts from mens sweaters...

I used the arms from both of the sweaters to make leg warmers in Part 1. To start out, cut apart the sweater's shoulders (after the arms have been cut off).

This sweater was a men's size large. I wanted to use the bottom of the sweater (the part that sits at the waist), as the waist for my skirt. However, as it was, it was too large to fit snugly around my waist (fortunately!).  Start by measuring your waist or the place where you want the top of the skirt to fit. Subtract 3 inches from your waist measurement. Then, divide that number in half and use that number to mark off where to cut the waistline. For example: If my waist is 25 inches (it's not), then I subtract 3 and end up with 22 inches. From there I divide 22 in half and end up with 11. So that means I need to mark off a waistline that is only 11 inches long when the sweater is laying down (and trim off the excess fabric outside of the marked off waistline).

I used chalk to mark my sweater. Also, make sure that you turn the sweater inside out before marking, pinning, cutting, and sewing!

After marking off the waist on your skirt, use a yard stick or a straight surface to mark the outline of the sides for the skirt. (I don't have a yard stick, so I used a scrap board instead.)

 My mom helped me. These are her hands, btw.

Then pin along the marked part of your fabric, cut about an inch outside the marked line, serge the ends, and then sew along the marked edges. (This is always a challenge for me. Seriously, I have the hardest time sewing in a straight line!) Repeat on the opposite side.

Almost done. After deciding on the length of the skirt, trim the bottom giving yourself about an inch or two to work with. Serge the bottom, fold up the fabric to where you would like the hem to be, pin it, and hem by hand (blah) to avoid stretching the fabric in weird places.

And now you have a skirt like this!

The slit in my skirt was where the bottom of the sweater's armpit started. You don't have to do it this way, I just wanted the skirt to be longer.

The next sweater wasn't as involved as the previous one because it was a smaller size (Medium)

This sweater fit my waist well as it was, there was no trimming and cutting along the sides or the waist. After I cut apart the shoulders, I measured the length I wanted my skirt, serged it, and hemmed it with my sewing machine. (This fabric wasn't as stretchy and textured as the previous sweater was, so it was relatively easy to hem with the machine, carefully.)

I also added slits to this skirt as well (to get more length). But, I hemmed the slits by hand after I serged the fabric, because I didn't think I could hem without stretching the fabric while maneuvering it through the sewing machine at those angles.

And this is the finished product.

I find that when you can't figure out how to pose for a picture, it's best to cover your eyes! ;)

I have to tell you guys, this was such a fun series to create! Although I don't do it as often as I would like, I love to up-cycle clothing. All of the projects in this series were relatively easy. I would definitely not consider myself to be a seamstress...I have a hard time sewing in a straight line! But I do have a sewing machine, and I know how to work it...or at least how to look something up in the manual and follow the instructions. So if I can do these, so can you! Don't be intimidated. Try them and show me what you got. Go and do one right now!!

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