You can make this easy toddler skirt and shirt out of any t-shirt that features patriotic colors! I made it using freezer paper stencils and applique. If you have a little boy you could make shorts using my t-shirt pants tutorial… just shorten the inseam!
Here is the t-shirt that I started with. I picked it up at Target in the pajama section recently when I couldn’t find anything for Sienna to wear for the 4th of July. I used the medium size.
You can follow my recycled t-shirt tutorial here but see below because I added a few steps for this skirt. I cut the shirt 11 inches up for the skirt portion….and JUST missed the design.
I found a great tutorial for freezer paper stencils by Dana at Made. (For those of you that know me I LOVE goldfish and go through a few bags a week. Check out the pants she made and you’ll see why I love them so much.)
I made some stars on the computer and laid them out in different sizes. Then I traced them onto freezer paper.
Here is my stars template to save you some time! Stars
After cutting out the stars in the freezer paper, I ironed the stencil onto the bottom portion of the shirt (soon to be skirt).
I painted three coats of white fabric paint onto the stencils. Make sure to put a layer of freezer paper in between your skirt layers so the paint doesn’t bleed through! My paint dried much faster when I put the skirt outside to dry between layers.
The finished paint stars!
I don’t have photos of the next steps because they are in my other tutorial linked above, but I cut out different size stars from the design portion of the t-shirt and then used applique to attach them to the skirt. Finally, I created the waist band.
Note: I used lightweight fusible interfacing behind the stars to help stabilize when sewing (just like in my other t-shirt skirt tutorial). If you use this exact same t-shirt, you’ll notice that the printing on the front is like a “no slip” grip finish, seriously. I had to really guide my stars through the sewing machine because the foot wouldn’t move very easily! I actually sewed the t-shirt stars on from the reverse side!
Here is a close-up of the finished skirt. The applique stars and the painted stars make a great combination!
Here is the back of the skirt. I did one large applique star and the painted stars peek around from the front.
I made another large applique star for the front of this white tank top and then 4 other little stars for the front and the back of the tank. I cut out my large star so the word FREEDOM was at the top.
Sienna in her patriotic outfit! We’re ready for the 4th of July now!
You can use this same tutorial to make an outfit for any occasion or holiday! Just pick a t-shirt with the right color scheme!
we are in the middle of swimming lessons!
