Refashionista // Use sleeves to lengthen your sweater skirt

You might not know this about me, but I believe in refashioning my refashions. Whenever I alter a clothing, it's always about finding better use for it. Sometimes that means turning it into a completely new garment, and sometimes it's just a little fix.

When I turned this sweater into a skirt, I had every intention of leaving it that way and using the sleeves for a whole other refashionista project. But, the length of the skirt started to really bother me. You'll only see me in a mini-skirt ince in a blue moon, if that. So, I figured I had to fix the length in order to make this wearable. Insert the sleeves.

If you haven't seen it, check out the first part of this refashion here. And then, if your skirt is too short as well, come back and add some length using the sleeves.
Here's how:

1) Cut up your sleeves.
2) Place the skirt on top of the sleeve and mark the width needed. Add seam allowances. Measure the length you'll need to add and mark that on the sleeve as well. Add hem allowance (about 3cm would suffice) on the bottom, and seam allowance (about 1-1.5cm) on top.
3) Cut out according to the markings. Place the rectangle on the other sleeve and cut out the back rectangle. Place right sides together and sew the sides together (meaning the short ends of the rectangles).
4) Place the wide tube on top of the skirt so that right sides (the outer sides) are together and side seams match up. Pin them in place.

5) Sew the tube to the skirt.
6) press the hem allowance to the wrong side of the fabric.
7) Sew the hem.
8) Give it a good press and you're done!

To get some tips for sewing with knit fabrics, check out this post.

Hopefully, this little fix will help me get more wear out of the skirt. Sometimes, it's ok to refashion a piece more than once to figure out the best fit for you.

I have so much creative juice in me lately, but I just haven't had time to channel it into projects as I've been working on a pretty big project behind the scenes. It's something I'm so excited to share more about tomorrow.

For now, though, what do you think. Do you like the first or the second iteration of the skirt better?

xo. Hanna