DIY Skirt and Sweater Set

Tools and materials:

• Floor-length Snuggie
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing machine

Create the shape  

Measure how long you want your sweater to be from shoulder to bottom. Lay your snuggie on your worktable and measure that length from the shoulder. Now create a line of pins to mark the bottom of your sweater and cut across the snuggie at that line.

Fit the sweater

Turn your sweater inside out. Measure the circumference of your wrist, elbow, and bicep and mark half that measurement on your sweater with pins, measuring from the outside (top) of the sleeve. Watch the video starting at 2:16 for how I did this. Now, connect the dots of your pins with more pins, so you have a sewing line. Repeat for the other sleeve.

Measure the circumference of your torso where the bottom of your sweater will be. Use pins to mark that width on your sweater. There’s a little math involved but I’ll break it down. If your torso is 32 inches around, that means 16 inches for the front and the back. If your fabric was 28 inches across the bottom, then you want your sweater to be 12 inches narrower than your fabric. So, place a pin 6 inches in from each side at the bottom.

Sew the sweater

Join up all your pins to create a sewing line. Sew along the line and repeat on the other side. Cut off the excess fabric below your seam.

Finish the sweater

If you want finished hems, then turn the bottom of the sleeves and the bottom of the sweater in and sew the hems.

Skirt 1

I accidentally pinned it right-side-out. Make sure you turn the fabric inside out before pinning!

Measure and sew

Now, turn what’s left of your old nightgown fabric inside out and place it on your worktable with the cut edge at the top. Using a skirt from your closet as your guide for size and shape, lay it on top of the fabric and trace the outline of your skirt with pins.

Cut off the fabric below the bottom of your skirt line.

TIP:

If you are going to want to hem the skirt, make the cut about an inch below your pin line. But don’t hem it yet!

Finish the sides and hem

Sew along the outside of the pin lines on both sides of the skirt and cut off the excess fabric.

Now you can hem the skirt if you wish.

Skirt 2

Measure and pin

Turn the remaining piece of your fabric inside out. Measure the length and width you want the skirt to be. Measure the width at both the bottom, the top, and the mid-point so you get the right shape. Pin the fabric at those measurements. Since there’s already a hem on your fabric, make that the bottom of your skirt. I decided to elongate the waist of this skirt and you’ll see why at the end of my video.

Pin the slit closed (if there is one) from the top of the slit until where you want your skirt slit to start.

Sew and finish

Add more pins to make sew lines and sew along the outside of those lines on each side. Sew up the slit if you want it smaller. Cut the excess fabric from each side. Tube top

Create the width you need

The piece of fabric I had left wasn’t quite wide enough for a tube top to go around my chest, but I found a solution with leftover fabric scraps. Follow the video at 6:40 to see how I extended the length of the fabric.

Sew and finish

Sew the flaps to the main fabric. Measure your chest to determine the size your top should be. Fold the top in half along the center, keeping it inside-out. Pin a line on the fabric at half the measurement of your chest (math again!), measuring from the folded edge. Sew along that pin line and cut off excess fabric. Sew hems at the top and bottom

There are so many ways to put these combos together for different looks. My favorite is the slit skirt, tube top, and sweater ensemble. Leave a comment to let me know what you like best and share a photo on Instagram.