Here's another project that we can classify under "living vicariously through others who have little girls."

Last week I shared with you this Muu Muu dress that I made for Henry's best girl, Adalyn. I decided before her party that one dress just wasn't enough, so I added a skirt to the gift bag for kicks.

If you were like "Hey, T-bone, that was a pretty cute dress, but it took you two hours, and ain't nobody got time for that," then this will be the project for you.

This skirt can be made in THIRTY MINUTES. Yep, that means that you could wake up in the morning and think, "my daughter has nothing to wear today" and then you could make her a skirt and you'd be the coolest mom ever. But that might create a pretty stressful morning, so maybe just make it after she goes to bed the night before, mmmkay?

It's a great way to use up small scraps of fabric that you hoard and have no idea what to do with. This adorable whale fabric was leftover from when I made this sweet little t-shirt dress for another sweet little lady 2 years ago.

Also, you can totally make this for yourself. Same steps, just more fabric.

the goods:

Rectangle of fabric. Mine was 14" long by 30" wide. You'll want at least 8" wider than the waist measurement to allow for gathering. I have learned recently that 21" is a pretty good average for 3 year olds' waists
3/4" elastic. Mine was 21" long
thread

how to:

STEP ONE: Iron. I know, ironing sucks, but it's a fact of life. Iron the pre-washed fabric flat. If you want to be fancy, fold the top of your skirt down 1/4" and iron, and then 1" and iron. I am lazy, so I skipped forward to Step 2.

STEP TWO: Create the waistband. If you ironed the top of your skirt, congratulations. If not, use your pinking shears across the top of your skirt to prevent fraying.

Then fold your fabric down 1" to 1-1/4" (depending on your confidence in your sewing skills). You're creating the tunnel for the elastic to go through. Pin and sew a straight stitch close to the pinked edge.

STEP THREE: Feed the elastic through the pocket you just created. Use safety pins at each end. This will make it easier to feed the elastic through AND will prevent the elastic from slipping out the back end, which would drive you insane. Ever tried to re-drawstring a pair of shorts, only to lose the back end of the string? Maddening. This fixes that.

See?! Life changing stuff, here.

Stitch that elastic down and remove the pin. Stay close to the edge here, about 1/4".

Smooth out your fabric so it gathers evenly. Your fabric should now look like this.

STEP FOUR: Time to turn this rectangle into a skirt. Pin the wrong sides of your rectangle together and stitch. Use pinking shears, a zig-zag stitch, or a serger to prevent fabric from fraying at the edges.

STEP FIVE: Hem this bad boy. You'll need the iron again (sorry). Use whatever dimension you like. I just did a basic 1/4" fold and iron, 1/2" fold and iron, done. No exposed edges. Bazinga.