Scrappy Skirt (for kids) - In About an Hour

My 5 year old niece asked me to make her a skirt. I had a good amount of fabric to choose from, but she went for this which was really not much more than a scrap:

Not quite enough for a skirt -- even for a 5 year old.

But, it had kitties on it so she was not changing her mind.

I reached for my trusty white sheet (which has served me well providing practice material for a skirt with a zipper, and as a pattern for my rounded collar shirt.)

I decided to do a paneled look skirt with a draw-string waist. To start, I cut the kitty fabric in half and cut the same sized pieces from the white sheet. Then, with right sides facing, I sewed the kitty fabric to the white fabric to create one long piece.

Right sides facing.

Now we have enough to make a skirt. I trimmed that bottom so it was all even.

I folded the top over twice and stitched it down to create a tube for my drawstring.

This drawstring requires 2 pulls -- one on each side. Here's the tutorial I based this on -- I've made these drawstring bags several times now and I love them. If you follow the tutorial above, you won't need my instructions below -- I did it her way and it was good, but I redid it because I wanted to move my drawstrings and need to improvise.

Once it's sewn, find the middle of the side -- this is where your drawstrings will come out. Snip a little hole in the fabric to thread your drawstring through. I used a satin ribbon and a large safety pin to thread it. Once that's done, snip a hole on the other side and do the same thing.

Thread the ribbon through the casing.

In one side, out the other. Repeat.

Now, you don't want those ribbons to get pulled back into the skirt, so you should tie the ends off. I added a large wooden bead 'cause I happen to have them in my draw o' stuff. So, the skirt is now adjustable in size around the waist -- just pull the ribbons and there you go.

Oh yeah -- I hemmed the bottom and gave it a good press all around and here's my cute scrappy skirt for my niece -- I'll try to get a pic of her actually wearing it next week:

It's Kitty Cute!