This is something I conceptualized over 2 years ago! Blegh! Why does it take me so long to do things? Anyway, I have a whole series along this similar vein. But this is the first piece, of a hopefully soon to come set of clothing art pieces. Some other things I want to make are overalls from a men’s business suit. And I ‘ve actually made an apron from a woman’s business shirt. So, I guess this is not the first piece. Here’s a picture of the Apron.

Materials List:

Cheap Nylons (I used 15 pairs) – I get my nylons at the dollar store. Not only can I get more for my money but the cheap nylons stretch and ruffle much better than the good kinds. Knee highs are best but I used pantyhose because that’s all I could find at the time. I like to use all of the colors I can find.

A simple underskirt to sew ruffles to (or pants or shorts). I made my own just cutting the pattern from another skirt that fits me.

Sewing machine

Thread

Regular sewing supplies

1. Prep the nylons (if using pantyhose and not knee highs). Turn the hose inside out, then, sew down the center and separate. I did this to all fifteen pairs .

2. Create ruffles – Turn nylons right side out, stretch them to flatten and widen them. Then sew down the middle of each legging, gathering as you feed it through the sewing machine. Go ahead and do this to all 30 leggings. At this point, you can choose to cut the long ends of the ruffles to create more curl and ruffle. I didn’t do this to mine.

3. Pin and Sew on Ruffles – Pin the ruffles to base skirt, then sew it down the middle. Pin on the next ruffle overlapping the last one slightly. When you get completely around the skirt, you may need to cut a legging to finish off the row. Just cut it, fold it over slightly and sew it down.

4. Continue sewing on ruffles row by row.

Here’s a few pictures of how the skirt looks on. First with a black slip over it.

Now without the black slip.