Flirt Skirt, a J.Crew Knockoff

Yup another skirt. I am really giving my wardrobe a makeover.
I found this material on sale at Hancock fabrics for $1/yard. SCORE! I love the orange it reminds me of summertime. Anyways, I saw this adorable tutorial on a flirt skirt and wanted to make one for myself. A few things I want to add to the tutorial.

1. make the pockets smaller. I cut them down by about 1 inch all around. I found that the way she made the pockets they were too big and floppy. Which brings me to my second point:
2. hand tack the pocket to the front of the skirt. Just a little stitch in the front corner should do. The pockets flap back and forth and it is really annoying.
3. Wait until the end to make the hem line. You can't really tell how short you want it until you try it on.
4. As far as the elastic goes don't cut the original strip in half. I would recommend you put the front side of elastic in, measure it 11 inch across and then cut with 1 inch on each side of your marking. Then do the same for the back. This will save you elastic so you are not wasting it. I made the elastic the way the tutorial instructed and ended up trimming off about 5 inch of wasted elastic.

Other than that it is a great tutorial. Very easy and the skirt is so breezy and light. I also added something fun (a little bit of flair) to the bottom. After I hemmed the skirt I added a zipper that I opened up. So there is just a trim of zipper along the bottom. I have a shirt that I love that has this and have been wanting to try it on something that I made. Just something different and fun.

I also altered a shirt that I own to go with the skirt. I had a plain white collared shirt hanging in my closet that I rarely wear. I had an idea to add ruffles down the front and change it from boring to appealing. Here is how you can do the same:

BEFORE

1. Cut 2 inch strips of any fabric you want to make the ruffles from. I cut 6 strips.
2. With right sides facing fold the strip in half (hot dog) and sew down one end and the side. Then turn the strip right side out using a pencil or end of a wooden spoon.
3. Press flat. The fold the open end inward so you don't have any open edges. Sew this end down. I used a zig zag stitch because I think it looks nicer. Repeat with all the strips.
4. Once you have the strips done baste down the middle of each strip with a really loose stitch. Then pull on one end to make the ruffle. You can make it as loose or tight as you want.

5. Press the ruffle to make it easier to pin. Then you will pin all your ruffles to the front of your shirt. I staggered mine.

6. Sew down the ruffles to the shirt trying to go over the basting stitch and make sure to back stitch at both ends.

AFTER

I'm linking up HERE and HERE and HERE