The 3 in One baby!!

Do you ever start a project and it turns out COMPLETELY different then what you were first envisioning? This is how this 3 in one piece came to life! And I am glad because I LOVE it! I bought this fabric back in October at Material Girls  (my favorite fabric store) First it was going to be used for a jacket, and then I started sewing my panels together for a twirly skirt but half way through changed my mind. I have been dying over the paper bag waist skirts for awhile now and I decided it was time to give it a try. I LOVE how this turned out because it is a skirt, dress, and shirt all in one! Too fun!!! I am going to attempt a tutorial for you but like I said when I sat down to sew I wasn't intending to make this skirt so I'll do the best explaining that I can!

1. Pick your fabrics. I decided to piece mine so my rectangles are about 5 inches wide and 12 inches long. But you don't have to piece your fabric you could just do one rectangle of the same fabric. The measurements need to be 4 inches longer then your desired length and the width is 2 x your waist measurement. So Madi's waist is 24 inches and I usually make her skirts 13 inches long so my rectangle was 17X48

2.

I wanted the top of my skirt, the paper bag part I guess you would say, and the hem line to be a different colored fabric so it would stand out a little more, so take that into consideration as you are making your rectangle. You just need your entire rectangle to be your desired Length plus 4 inches and your width twice the size of your waist measurement.

2. Fold your fabric width wise right sides together and sew down the length side seam making a tube, or body of the skirt!

3. I didn't take pictures of some of these next steps because, well just because!! I wasn't really thinking! I got too excited sewing! So listen carefully! Turn your skirt right side out now and go to the top of your skirt, the waist line. Turn your waistline under 4 inches stitch the waist line all the way around the skirt but leave a 1/2 inch opening to later put in your elastic.

4. About a 1/2 inch above the stitch that you just did you are going to sew again all the way around your waist essentially making a casing for your thin elastic.

5. Insert your elastic through the opening that you left and cinch it all the way around the waist. When you get the two ends together sew the elastic together and then stitch up that opening hiding your elastic.

6. And now for the hem. I am kind of weird. I want ted my hemline to look clean and pretty so I did my hem this way. You can definitely just do it the good old way of ironing a half inch twice and stitching it up but this is how I did it. I took my bottom piece of mismatched fabric and folded it in half. I ironed it really good and then sewed the raw side to the right side of the skirt. Does that make sense??? Then folded it over and Ironed it again. This is just my preference I just like the way it looks underneath the skirt.

7. I have never sewn with the pom poms before so I may not have done this the way it is supposed to be done. But I liked the way it turned out so who knows! I just sewed the pom poms directly on to the hem line stitch.

And lastly just so this could be worn as a shirt, or a dress for Mia I added two strings to the top of the skirt. They are long enough to be tied around the girl's neck as a halter, and short enough to hid in the skirt when Madi is wearing it. I almost forgot, I like the look of a string/belt around the waist line so you can do that too if you want. Don't tell anyone, but for my string/belt I took bias tape sewed the edges closed and used that!! Can you do that??? I just did!

Please let me know if you have questions! Sometimes it is hard for me to explain how I actually did it! I can visualize it so much better then teaching it! Have fun, and send pics!