DIY Summery Flower Skirt

Doesn't my granddaughter look summery in her flowered skirt—perfect for lunch with her sister and aunt!

The inspiration came from Interweave Stitch magazine, Summer 2013 issue. This granddaughter plans to be a fashion designer one day. (A month ago, she was going to run a restaurant, which would be built next door to my house. Handy!) She was looking through this magazine and asked me to make a skirt she saw there.





The inspiration skirt is really cute, and I am not opposed to a little hand embroidery. However, I decided to use a piece of yellow interlock knit that I already had, and hand sewing on that would have been challenging!  Stenciling a flower design was my answer.

I cut the fabric the desired length plus about two inches and about twice the width of the waist measurement.  I pressed up a one-inch hem and stitched with a double needle.

I used my Silhouette SD to cut a stencil from overhead transparency film. Using transparency film is cheap and gives me a re-positionable and reusable stencil. I repeated my pattern on the stencil so I would be able to space the design evenly.






First, I stenciled the entire design with white paint. This helps to keep the colors true, which probably wouldn't have been a problem with this color combination.  Better safe than sorry!  I used Tulip Soft fabric paint for the entire project.

Once that had dried, I went back back over some of the flowers with orange and green paints.  I used a small foam pouncer to add brown centers to the daisy-like flowers.



Unfortunately, I somehow smeared some of the brown paint and had to scrub it out.  Bother!

Here you can see the whole piece with the stenciling completed.  You can also see my fancy work space, the freezer!  It was just the right width, and easy to clean.  Whatever works!

Once all the paint was dry, I set it with the iron.

To complete the skirt, I serged the center back seam, then turned down the top for a casing* and stitched that with a double needle, leaving room to insert the elastic.  I cut 3/4" elastic 3 inches shorter than the waist measurement and threaded it through the casing. Then I overlapped the ends of the elastic slightly and stitched them securely.  Finally, I stitched the casing opening, matching my original stitches.

See how cute and flirty she looks with a tank that matches the green flowers?  And the matching shorts underneath make it perfect for summer play!

In summertime when school is out,

We’ll have lots of fun, there is no doubt!

*Ordinarily, I prefer a different application for elastic, but because the fabric-to-elastic ratio was so high, I knew the casing method would work the best.