Ladies skirt into girl's dress

I found this size large knit skirt at my church rummage sale for $0.25, and the fabric was so soft I knew I wanted to make something out of it!  I decided on a sweet little dress.  Here's how...

Here is the skirt I used.

Step 1:  I used a dress that currently fits my girl as a guide.  I did not do an actual pattern, but simply placed the dress on top of the skirt and cut around it.  A dress has so much "forgiveness" that I was not too OCD about the sizing.

I used the side seam as a starting point so I would only have to sew up one side.

I cut around the dress leaving a 1" gap on the side for the seam and cut just above the straps at the top.

Then I made a second cut about 1" above the top of the dress, leaving room to sew a casing for the straps.

I also cut out armholes.  This step is optional.  My daugher has very narrow shoulders though, and I wanted to dress to fit her a little more.  If you skip this step you're going to have more of the "pillowcase dress" style.  Totally your choice!



Step 2: Sew up the side seam.

I always pin my seams before I sew.  Especially working with knit, this fabric "moves" alot as you sew, so the pins help keep everything in line.  I also wanted the color blocks to line up and pinning helped to keep that together.

I first sewed a straight stitch all the way, making sure to back stitch at the beginning and end.

Then I went back and did a zigzag stitch to lock it in nice and tight.

Step 3:  Sew the casing at the top for the strap to loop though.

Pin down the casing for the straps.  I went down about 1/2 inch.  It depends on what you are using for your straps for how big a casing you should sew.  I have seen some dresses with 1 1/2 inch ribbon.  Adjust this step to your dress.



All sewed up!

 Step 4:  Add straps.

I used the stripe of color at the top of the skirt for my strap.  I just cut if off with my rotary cutter and VOILA, you've got a coordinating strap color!

Attach a safety pin to the end of your strap to feed it through your casing.



And here are my finished dresses!! I had enough fabric to do two :)