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    Home » Holidays

    Scrappy Skirt how-to

    Updated: Jul 25, 2012 by Melissa Mortenson · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads · 14 Comments

    Pin It

    If you follow the Polkadot Chair on facebook, you may remember that I shared this photo a few weeks ago of my work table…

    The story goes like this:

    I was working a pinwheel quilt out of some Denyse Schmidt fabric that I picked up at Joanns and glanced down at the pile of scraps and thought to myself:

    “that looks like the 4th of July!”

    sidenote: can you name the movie that line “you look like the 4th of July!!”  is from? the facebook gals got it right away 🙂

    As it turned out I had a bunch of 9″ tall scraps left over from cutting out my pinwheel quilt blocks.  The Fourth was coming up and I thought I’d make my daughter a fun skirt to wear for the day with the scraps. The project was quick and simple to sew. This is what I came up with:

    Since each scrap was at least 9″ tall, I made the top tier of the skirt 9″ tall and pieced all out of scraps. Each one of those fabrics is a different width- some are 2″ some are 6″ etc… It just depended on what was left over from the quilt. If some were too wide, I cut them in half. I just kept sewing together scraps until I had the correct width.

    I then added a lower tier (that is yardage not scraps) and bias strip bands to the top and bottom tier. It was a bit short so the band on the bottom tier is made from a 4″ wide strip of fabric.

    If you would like to make a skirt like this just start with one of my tutorials:

    either this one:  (from the first days of my blog, an oldie but a goodie!!)
    or this one:

    Just replace the top tier of fabric with pieced scraps… all the measurement are the same.

    I had so much fun making this one that I might have to dig though my scrap bin and see what else I can come up with.

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    About Author

    Melissa Mortenson

    Melissa Mortenson is a blogger, designer, and content creator. She is the Polka Dot Chair blog founder and has been sharing fresh and creative ideas with readers since 2008. She is the author of “Project Teen, Handmade Gifts your Teen will Actually Love.” Her work and designs have been featured on HuffPost, TODAY, Pioneer Woman, HGTV, BuzzFeed, Better Homes & Gardens, and many other established publications. Her first fabric line, “Derby Style,” debuted in January 2015 through Riley Blake Designs.  Additional fabric collections have followed it in subsequent years. A mom of 3, she considers herself lucky to be living in Kentucky.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Crazy Me says

      July 20, 2011 at 2:55 pm

      LOVE IT! Oh and the movie quote comes from Legally Blonde ( I think that’s right, it was the over the top hair stylist lady) right?

      Reply
    2. Sarah says

      July 20, 2011 at 2:57 pm

      Cute skirt! My fav thing in your post photo’s was the diet coke can and glass with ice in the background. A permanet fixture in my sewing nook too:)

      Reply
    3. audrey says

      July 20, 2011 at 3:24 pm

      Very cute!! And the quote is from Legally Blonde, I actually heard her voice while I read it!

      Reply
    4. Lori says

      July 20, 2011 at 4:59 pm

      It’s adorable, Melissa!

      Reply
    5. amanda persinger says

      July 20, 2011 at 5:41 pm

      I have been eying that fabric for a while now… just may have to actually buy some to make that adorable skirt ; ) and btw…I have not had a diet coke in months and have not wanted one…until now :0

      Reply
    6. Katy Cameron says

      July 20, 2011 at 6:38 pm

      What a fun idea, love it!

      Reply
    7. CraftCrave says

      July 21, 2011 at 1:23 am

      Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [21 Jul 01:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria

      Reply
    8. casserole says

      July 21, 2011 at 10:26 am

      Love love!! I linked to your project on Craft Gossip Sewing:
      http://sewing.craftgossip.com/cool-idea-twirly-skirt-from-quilt-scraps/2011/07/21/

      –Anne

      Reply
    9. toots2u says

      July 21, 2011 at 4:27 pm

      Thank you so much for all of your tutorials! They are always so cute and the directions are easy to follow.

      Reply
    10. Anneliese says

      August 21, 2011 at 11:12 am

      This is completely adorable! I love the fabrics too–always so nice (and surprising) to see beautiful things from Joann. Saw this on oneprettything…

      Reply
    11. Julianne says

      March 15, 2013 at 7:52 pm

      Just fyi, I made a series of seasonal themed (Halloween, fall, Christmas, winter, Valentine’s Day, etc.) skirts similar to the one you made with the pink flower. I pulled up the top layer and pinned it where the flower is and it made a completely different look!

      Reply
      • Melissa Mortenson says

        March 18, 2013 at 5:04 pm

        I’m so glad you enjoyed the tutorial. I keep meaning to make one out of Halloween fabrics! Maybe this year!

        Reply

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