Upcycled baby skirt

Hello everyone!

Decided to make a foray into the world of upcycling / transformation challenges. And convert some little trousers into a skirt for my daughter.

From this...

...to this!

I used a pair of trousers that my younger son has now grown out of. They are size 2-3 years. Thorough wear by both my sons means they had a hole in the knee.

I started by chopping the legs off, just above the hole. I figured this would make the resulting skirt roughly knee length.

I then unpicked the crotch.

I selected a contrast fabric to stitch into the the triangles created by unpicking. After measuring, I went for 5 inch squares, but I really wish I had cut them bigger, as there was only just enough to hand stitch them on.  There was also a little more difference in size between the front and back than I anticipated.

Pinned...

...and sewn.

Finally, I stitched some bias binding round the bottom to act as a neat hem and cover up any messiness. I hand stitched this last bit last night while watching the Great British Sewing Bee, which seemed appropriate as it was Children's Week.

And here we have it! One finished skirt! It's still a little big for my daughter so a teddy bear helped us with the modelling. It's a little big for the bear as well.

I think this has been pretty successful! This material was ok for handwork as it wasn't as thick as a full-on denim. I think if I wanted to do something adult sized, or with a thicker material, I would need to use a machine.

Thanks for reading!