The Cotton Candy Skirt

I am so excited to walk you through The Cotton Candy Skirt - - we had so much fun with these pictures...

This is part of the IKEA repurposing series at Studio 5.
UPDATE: - you can see the VIDEO CLIP HERE - I'm in the middle of the segment.

A few months ago it was announced that there will be an IKEA built in my area - I can't wait!!  Currently I plan our family vacations around IKEA locations.

I was given the challenge to repurpose the Ofelia Blanket - maybe some of you have this at home...

I immediately knew it would make a great girl's skirt.  The awesome thing is that the skirt only takes a little amount of the fabric - so you can cut off the end of the blanket about 15 inches and leave the rest of the blanket to be used as a blanket - bonus!  how much you need to cut off depends on how tall your daughter is and how big you'll make the skirt.  My daughter is 8 and her skirt is about 15 inches (waist to knee) by 30 inches around (she's 21 around, and then I added some to make it fuller).

When you go to cut the fabric, you'll notice that you can follow inbetween the lines in the fabric - that's easy:

The blanket came white but I wanted it a royal blue - - I dyed it, but since the blanket is mostly polyester, it doesn't soak up the color quite like I imagined. But that's okay because the minute I pulled it out of the washing machine, with it's pretty light blue and puffiness, I knew it was just like Cotton Candy, and I got super excited.  Everyone loves cotton candy!

Skirt construction is easy!  Cut your rectangle according to the measurements of your girl - - measure waist to knee for length, and then all the way around for the waist.  Add 8 inches or so to the waist measurement because the skirt is gathered a little around the waist.  I know the fabric is stretchy, but just lay it flat and at ease when you cut it.  Make sure to put the finished edge from the blanket along the bottom of the skirt so you don't have to hem it.

After it's cut, with wrong sides together, sew up the back seam.  This will make the skirt shape.

For the waistband, turn under the top edge wide enough to fit elastic.  Sew it down, leaving about 3 inches unsewn so you can put the elastic in. When you sew it down, pull on the fabric to stretch it out so that the skirt waist will maintain it's stretch:

Then you are going to feed the elastic through, sew the elastic ends together, and sew up the hole you left open.

And of course, make a quick skirt for a doll - - because matching girl/doll outfits are just so cute!!

And there you have it, The Cotton Candy Skirt - - it's cozy because the fabric is so stretchy:

 I also sewed the shirt she's wearing - I tackled knits and came out on top!!

 I'll post about the shirt and the tights I crafted separately....so look forward to that!

 If you have an Ofelia blanket, trim a little off the end of it and turn it into a skirt - you can do it!!

And then check out what these other awesome bloggers have done with their blanket:

Diary of Dave's Wife - Valentine Throw Pillow:

Sweet Charli - Wreath, Lampshade, and Pillow: