How to Make a Shirt a Pencil Skirt

You can make that old shirt into a pencil skirt in about 10 minutes.

You can repurpose old T-shirts by turning them into figure-flattering pencil skirts. Pencil skirts are simple form-fitting skirts that adapt well to all types of tops, blouses and fashion accessories. Use a plain, solid-colored T-shirt for a conservative and demure look, or busy patterns and prints for splashy, edgy styles. With a sewing kit and T-shirt, you can create a fashionable new skirt or dress.

Things You'll Need

• T-shirt
• Crayon
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Tape measure
• Elastic
• Safety pin
• Sewing needle

Instructions

1. Turn your T-shirt inside out and lay it across a flat surface. Smooth out any wrinkles. Draw a straight line horizontally across the shirt, using a crayon, piece of chalk or fabric pen. Start at the bottom seam of one sleeve and draw straight across to the same seam on the opposite side. Cut across the line to remove the top section of the T-shirt with the sleeves and neckline. Discard this piece of fabric.

2. Step into the tube-like piece of fabric and slide it over your waist. The original hem should be at the bottom around your legs. On one side, pull the seam of the T-shirt at the top and bottom until the fabric is snug around your body. Place a few straight pins about 1 inch apart vertically into the fabric, along the side of your body. Step out of the tube.

3. Thread your sewing machine with a thread that matches the color of the skirt. Create a new seam by sewing a straight line along the outer edge of the pins, from top to bottom. Cut the excess fabric off about 1/4 inch from the outside of your new seam to remove the original one.

4. Fold the material at the top of the tube over about 1 inch. If you are using a wider elastic band, fold the fabric over about 1/2 inch wider than the width of the elastic band. Place straight pins horizontally every 1 to 2 inches around the entire tube to secure the fold and make a new hem. Sew the hem all the way around the skirt, just below the pins. Leave a 1-inch opening through which to slide the elastic.

5. Measure your waist with a tape measure. Cut a piece of elastic to match your measurement. Secure a safety pin to one end of the elastic and push it through the opening in the top hem of the tube. Work the safety pin through the length of the hem until you can pull the elastic all the way around and out of the same opening. Hand-sew each end of the elastic together and stitch the opening closed. Remove all of the straight pins.

Tips & Warnings

• Enhance your T-shirt pencil skirt by sewing on lace trims, beads or other adornments.

• Follow the same steps using a button-up men's dress shirt to create a more formal pencil skirt with a sexy button-down slit up the front or back.

• Use a longer T-shirt and measure the elastic below your armpits to make pencil tube-top dress.

Resources

• Love and Trash: Pencil Skirt From an XL T-Shirt
• I Could Sew Dot That: T-shirt Refashion: The Pencil Skirt