Easy Girls' Tiered Skirt Tutorial

Do your girls have any old pants laying around that have holes in the knees? How about pants that are too short but still fit in the waist? If not, head to the thrift store and pick up some for a few dollars a pair. Remake them into these fun skirts! How cute would these be in red, white and blue for July?

Start by cutting the pants off right below the zipper and the back pockets. Even them up a bit until they look similar to this:

You will need three quarter yards (not fat quarters...you want the quarter yard to run the width of the fabric so that you get 45" strips) of fabric for this project. Each quarter yard will be 9" by 45" inches.

You will cut each in half lengthwise which will give you two 4 1/2" by 45" strips of each print.

Cut the two strips you will be using for your top tier down to 23"

Cut the two strips you will be using for your middle tier down to 33"

Cut the two strips you will be using for your bottom tier down to 43" (I actually didn't trim mine at all, they were already so close to the correct length.)

You'll end up with 6 strips, like these:

Sew matching strips together, right sides together, then press the seams open.

Next, sew a 1/4" hem the edge of the bottom tier.

Set your machine to its largest stitch size (this will be your basting stitch) and stitch around the top of each loop of fabric. Sew from seam to seam, leaving a tail of thread at the beginning and end. You will pull the top thread to gather your tier (after the next step).

Pin the top edge of this hemmed bottom tier to the middle tier at the seams, right sides together. I also pin the middle of each layer together.....it helps get the gathers even. Pull the top basting thread until the length of the bottom tier matches the length of the middle one.

Loop your thread around the pin to keep it in place.

Spread the gathers out gently with your fingers until they are evenly distributed.

Sew the two layers together. Right before you get to your pins, pull them out and pull the basting threads to the side. This will help you to more easily pull the basting threads out after the layers are sewn together.

Follow the same method to attach each layer to the one above.

To finish the skirt, topstitch each layer. Where pants meet skirt, topstitch below the seam. On the others, top stitch above the seam.

Enjoy!

I am thinking of using the scraps to make some matching hair flowers. Tutorial soon to come (and many, many more)!