Shorts-to-Skirt Refashion

Since I only have two kids, a boy and a girl, I am always looking for creative ways to repurpose boy clothes for a girl. This is a project I came up with and I am so pleased with the results, that I wanted to share!

I started with some old basketball shorts that no longer fit my son.

First, I unpicked the crotch seams. My intent was to use the existing side seams from the shorts as the front and back of the skirt. When laid out, the left and right side (originally the back and front of the shorts) were not the same (see above), so I trimmed the corners down.

This gave the skirt a more even silhouette.

Next, I pinned the layers together carefully. I start pinning at what was formerly the side seam, which is unaltered in this tutorial. I pinned this seam to the seam opposite to avoid any shifting while I sewed. I pinned the hem edges together for the same reason.

Here you can see how I stitched along my new side seams. First, I zig-zagged close the edge, then did a straight stitch right along that to make a smoother seam. When that was finished, the new seam was still a little wavy, so I also top-stitched along each side of the seams from the waistband to the hem.

Since the original shorts had grommets with white cording, I needed to figure out a way to make the grommets work for the skirt. I threaded a pink ribbon through and all the way around the waist. When the skirt is worn, I pull it snug, then tie a bow.

On the first fitting, I thought the skirt was still too long, so I hemmed it up an inch and added another strip of pink ribbon along the hem with a fancy floral stitch. (In this photo, you can see the outside hem and the inside of the opposite hem.)

And now Violet has a fun and casual skirt! I know she doesn't look terribly excited about it, but that serious face is because she wanted to see pictures of herself instead of standing there while I took pictures of her.

{Linked on Mamal Diane, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Ladybug Blessings, Cedar Hill Ranch, Coastal Charm, Adventures of a DIY Mom, Nap-Time Creations, Pursuit of Functional Home, Fluster Buster, Ashley's Dandelion Wishes, Ginger Snap Crafts, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Green Willow Pond}