Attack of the Gender Neutral Onsies Part 2: DIY knit skirt

The other day I  made Sirenita a super cute bow from this little girl's tank top from Walmart. They cost $1.68, regular price. You can't beat that, right? Especially when you plan on destroying it!

I picked the first one up as an experiment. The bow came out very cute and the color is great on my little Sirenita. Since I only used the bottom four inches of the shirt, I figured I could make a matching skirt out of it. How better to dress up those boyish gender neutral onsies than with a matching skirt and headband?  If you don't know how to sew, you could easily do this with some stitch-witchery, or something of that nature, so don't despair! This is the easiest skirt I have ever made, and only took about 10 minutes.

You'll need a shirt and some elastic to do this. If you have an old shirt laying around that you don't want you could use it, or swing by Walmart for one of these cami's. I used a little girl's size 14/16. For a larger child, you could spend a dollar or so more, and use a lady's sized cami. I think they cost about $2.86. Of course, if you don't like Walmart, you could try Forever21 for cheap cami's, or wherever floats your boat.

First measure and cut your elastic. I cut mine about an inch longer than I needed. 

I used the size chart from thepinningmama to figure out how much elastic I needed. She also has a great tutorial that I have used for making a tutu, so if you have leftover elastic you can swing over there and make a tutu too! If you are doing a no-sew version and plan on tying the elastic in a knot make sure you cut your elastic longer so you can knot it!

 http://www.thepinningmama.com/diy-no-sew-tutu-for-little-girls/

Lay the elastic near the bottom of your shirt and fold the hem over your elastic to measure how big a casing you need to make. You can either flip the raw edge under so it is completely hidden, or leave  exposed. Either way, it will be on the inside of the skirt, and knit does not ravel so whatever is easiest for you is fine!

Pin the hem over your elastic, leaving at least 1/4 inch extra so you will have room to sew.  Remove your elastic. Sew along the edge of the fold to create the casing. Make sure you leave a small hole to slide the elastic through!

I ran out of bobbin thread and had to take a brief intermission. It reminded me of 80's Saturday morning cartoons. "After these messages, we'll be riiiight back!"

Back to work! You have now sewn almost all the way around the skirt. You've created the casing, and left a hole to thread your elastic through. Now it's time to add elastic. The easiest was is to pin a saftey pin to one end of the elastic, and stick it into the casing. The pin will make it easier for you to grab the elastic and work the end all the way around to the other side of the hole. 

Once you've worked the elastic all the way through your casing, you can sew the edges of the elastic together.  If you are doing a no sew version, you can tie the elastic together in a knot, or use your fabric glue.  

Once you sew the elastic together, you can finish sewing along the edge of your casing to close it. You now have a skirt with edges that look like a new gothic fashion gone wrong. 

The great thing about knit is that it doesn't ravel. So just chop those weird edges off. You could do a waterfall skirt, longer in the back and shorter in the front.  You could scallop it, or just chop it off straight. It's completely up to you. Whatever you choose to do, just run your fingers along the edge to stretch it slightly. It'll roll up, and you're done! 

If you have a full shirt to start with, you could also use the original hem at the bottom of the shirt if you don't want raw edges.