Crafty Cousins: Tube Top to a Bustle Skirt

Let’s chat for just a minute. I was MIA last week. It’s been hectic. You know when you offer different people help at different times, then they all decide they need your help the same week? Yep, one of those. But I’m almost caught up now. I can almost get back to Christmas and Thanksgiving stuff. But let’s talk about something else. Nat & I love having a place we can share our projects without cluttering up our family blogs (which mine is severely neglected lately), but our priority is our family, church stuff, home, and just being moms and wives. So while we’ll keep posting our fun stuff, it may not be as frequent. Especially with crazy holidays coming up. I’ve been frantically scrambling to have all the in-laws presents finished before we go up next week for Thanksgiving, so it’s been crazy! Anyway, thanks for reading, and my goal is only to post the awesome stuff, not every project, so stay tuned. Projects like this.

I was at Target awhile back, and strolling through the clothes, when this tube top from a clearance rack SCREAMED at me. I went over to it and it was $3. Seriously. Who could resist? So I brought it home, and it sat waiting for inspiration/time. I started picking the seam to take off the top part that goes over the chest.

Then, it sat for a little longer. The skirt was long enough, but it was a bit snug around the knees. I wanted more walk-ability, even if it was knit. So I picked apart the chest part too, at all the seams.

Let’s not mind my messy table. I then figured out where the biggest part of butt was with the skirt on, and marked it with a pin. Carefully. Smile Once I had the length from the butt to the hem, I cut a triangle from an old white t-shirt, using the hem as the bottom of the triangle. I added an extra 1/2” to the top for seam allowance. I cut the base of the triangle 4” wide, folded.

Then, I took the pieces from the chest part and cut them into skinnier strips. No real rhyme or reason, they were usually just cut right in half. I finished one edge of them, and then started pinning them onto the white triangle. I made sure they ruffled up a bit, and that the next layer covered the top part of the other ruffle. The bottom ruffle was cut in a curve shape, so it matches the edges of the bottom hem on the corners, and then it gets longer in the middle.

I sewed the edges even with the white triangle too.

So then, I made sure that the pin I had for the butt point was in the middle of my skirt, in the back, and drew a straight line from hem to butt point.