Reuse & upcycle: how to lengthen girls' skirts

Kids grow. It's a fact of life and even though we, as parents, kind of miss our little babies, what we want the most is to see them grow healthily. Sometimes, however, we would also like their clothes to fit just a little longer...

Remember this post?

This time, instead of pants and shorts I decided to show you what I do to skirts that are still wearable but that have become too short for my little girl.

Start with a skirt that still fits at the waist:

Cut a strip of fabric a little over half of the length you want to add to the skirt. If you want the fabric to fall strait, cut it exactly the same width as the lower edge of your skirt (plus seam allowance). If you're going for a ruffled effect, add additional width.

Fold the strip of fabric in half and press, and then fold the edges over and press again until you have something that resembles the picture below (it almost look like bias tape, though the fabric is not cut on the bias):

Join the edges and sew them right sides together...

...in order to form a circumference:

The folded edge will be the skirt's new hem, the top (where both edges join) will be hidden underneath the original skirt hem.

Then, with needle and thread, add some stitches to the top of the strip of fabric, pulling slightly as you go, to create the ruffles.

Adjust the ruffles and pin the fabric to the skirt. Make sure the side seam of the fabric matches one of the side seams of the original skirt for a cleaner, more professional look.

Sew the fabric in place. I used a dark blue thread and sewed over the original hem, so the new stitches are virtually invisible. On skirts of other colours you may need to improvise.

And here it is (front and back):

And on the inside:

It is a quick and easy way to make a cute skirt look even cuter. And longer...

Enjoy,