DIY Pencil Skirt from a Sweater! | Get Thready With Me #7

[music plays]

Hello and welcome to Get Thready With Me episode
#7. Now I am *so* excited about today's project.

Even though more than half of my audience
are in summer at the moment, it is winter

here in Australia, so if this isn't one that
you can do at the moment, then just save it

away for autumn or winter - because I promise,
it is so worth it.

So I'm going to shut up now, and let's get
started.

Okay, so I thrifted this AMAZING sweater a
couple of months ago. But, it’s a little

bit too small, so unfortunately I never wear
it. But the dog print is just adorable, so

I thought that I would try and turn it into
something wearable!

So the first thing I did was turn the sweater
inside out.

I put a bunch of pins through both layers
to hold them together, and then decided on

the shape of my skirt.
My waist measurement is 30 inches, but because

this material STRETCHES, I’m going to take
2 inches off that measurement.

I’m also going to allow a bit more room
across here for my hips and butt.

So I’m going to draw something like this
in pen onto my inside-out sweater.

Of course, if you’re using a more oversized
sweater, then you’d draw something like

this instead.

Now, I’m going to use my overlocker to both
cut and sew the sides of the skirt at the same time.

So I’m going to run my overlocker down both
the sides of the sweater like this.

So first, I’ve set my overlocker's differential
feed to its highest (positive) setting, so

that it'll get a waver-free seam. This will
just mean that hopefully, the seam will be

as flat as possible. And then, I sew.

And, that’s a pretty alright seam! I’m
pretty happy with that!

Okay, so now I’ve done this on both sides,
I’m going to cut all along this line, through both layers of the sweater.

Then I turned it the right way around again.

Now, for my waistband I am using this navy
blue ribbed jersey material – but any kind

of jersey material, or even an old t-shirt,
should do.

So, I folded this fabric in half. I then stuck
some pins in it to keep the two layers sandwiched

together in place. I then measured a rectangle
that’s 5 inches by 14 inches, and then cut

this rectangle out, on the fold. Which I then
unfold, and so I have this strip, which is

28 inches by 5 inches.

So then I place this waistband fabric down
onto the front of my skirt like this. And

then I start putting in pins, pinning this
bit of fabric onto my skirt all the way around.

Once I’ve pinned it on all the way around,
I join the two ends of the waistband together like this.

And then, I’m going to sew the waistband
to the skirt. So because I have an overlocker,

I’m going to first sew the waistband in
place using a very long straight stitch – also

called a “basting” stitch.
Then, I removed all the pins, and use my overlocker to again sew all the way around.

The next step was to measure a piece of elastic.
The elastic I got is 1 and a half inches wide.

I wrapped a piece of elastic comfortably around
my waist, and then pulled it just *slightly*

tighter, to measure the correct length.

Then, I unfolded the waistband, and again
turned everything inside out.

Then, with the waistband material, I folded
it down, in half so that the raw edge lay

just on top of the seam that I made when I
attached the waistband.

Then, I started putting in pins to hold it all together!

Now, I’m going to sew across this, to make
a kind of tube out of the waistband, attached

all the way around the skirt. I'm going to
use zig zag stitch, but I’m also going to

leave a small gap, because that’s where
I’m going to insert my elastic later on.

So, with that done, I put a safety pin in
the end of my elastic to help guide it through

the tube, inserted it through the hole in
the waistband, and threaded it through the

skirt until it came out the other end, and
then I sewed the two ends of elastic together

like this.

Then I popped the elastic back through the
hole, and sewed over the top to close it up,

and, I’m done!

[music plays]

How easy was that!? I'm now planning to visit
the thrift shop and get myself as many oversized

kitschy jumpers as possible, and turn them
all into super cute pencil skirts.

It's going to be amazing.

Thank you all so much for watching! Don't
forget to check out my last episode, episode

#6, and I'll see you all for my very next
video. Bye!