Sunday, August 4, 2013

Easy Reversible Colorblock Skirt DIY Tutorial

Removable elements, reversible pieces, whatever - I love a gimmicky garment that offers options.  I had a small stripe of tan knit fabric from a previous colorblocking project and decided to use it in a skirt.  To make it kind of fun / versatile, I decided to make it reversible from tan / black to white / black.

Reversible Skirt DIY

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~2 hrs

Materials:
  • Your choice of colorblocking fabrics (also feel free to mix more than 2 blocks)
  • Elastic for waistband
Due to the number of photos, please see the rest of the tutorial after the jump.

What I did:
1.)  For the height of your blocks, determine how long you'd like the skirt to be, multiply by 2, and divide it by your # of blocks.  For width, I typically use 2x your waist measurement.

Example: For my toddler - 18" waist, 14" length (she grows like a weed.  A skirt I made for her in May doesn't even cover her bum anymore so I went a little on the long side this time around).  When all pieced together, the material should be 28 x 36".  Since my top block accounts for 2 blocks, I doubled the height.
    top block: 14 x 36"
    bottom blocks: 7 x 36"



 2.) Sew your blocks together on the long side.  Then fold in half and sew down the open side to create a colorblocked tube.

3.)  Cut your elastic waistband and sew the ends together with a couple of rows of zig zags.  I backstitch each row for extra hold.

4.) Slide your elastic onto your tube.

5.)  Position elastic and pin in place.

6.) Sew a line of stitching (I used a twin needle here simply because it was already on the machine, but this is not necessary) right underneath the elastic to case it.

Finished waist with enclosed elastic:

7.)  Now fold and align your bottom block to your top block

8.)  Stitch them together at the underside leaving open a hand sized gap:


9.)  Flip your skirt right side out and blind stitch the opening by hand (great tutorial here)

Done!  Enjoy!


On the subject of toddlers, I wanted to leave you with some kiddo tidbits I find hilarious (but you may yawn at so please feel free to skip) :)

My almost 2 year old:

  • "I la you" = "I love you"
  • "Mo peas" = "More please"
  • "Huck!" = "Hug!"
  • "ow you" = "thank you" (go figure)
  • When leaving the fish tank at the market, "Bye bye mao mao" (mao mao = "cat" in Cantonese)
  • When asked what Mommy's name is, "Cha Cha" (not even close)
Hope everyone had a great weekend!

9 comments:

  1. oh cha cha (hehehe) you are so talented, i love all these projects and wish i could do this.

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    1. Haha, "cha cha" is just hilarious - kids are so funny! Thanks for the kind words, P :)

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  2. Cute idea! I've been liking colourblock pieces lately and just bought a sweater dress that looks similar to your black & white skirt. : )

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    1. Sounds pretty! Wish I could knit something aside from a scarf!

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  3. Great idea! Love the tan color.

    "Cha Cha" is too cute! My nephew is almost 19 mos. now and it is so much fun listening to him talk. He cannot say please either, he says "Meeze".

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    1. Awww, I love hearing about babies!! Though I have to admit it gives me a touch of baby fever, haha

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  4. You've inspired me to go to the fabric store, dust off the sewing machine and make myself a fabulous new reversible color=blocked skirt for my upcoming vacation. A huge thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Aw, thank you! That's very kind of you to say :)

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I'm the type of gal who gets giddy when I receive mail - it's no different with comments! I really appreciate the feedback and love hearing from you :)