Rookie

It seems like everyone and their great-grandmother is wearing a high-low skirt these days! I’ve personally wanted to get in on this trend for ages, but being the tightwad that I am, I cringe at the thought of buying a brand-new one at a ridiculous price just for the asymmetrical hemline, especially when it’s such an easy DIY project! Though this look may seem difficult to replicate properly, it’s actually quite simple. All it requires is a skirt from a thrift store, some scissors, and a knack for drawing squiggly lines.

You’ll need:

• A full skirt made of lightweight fabric–chiffon-y, granny-style ones work wonderfully. The skirt should be at least below the knee in length.
• Scissors
• Fabric chalk or marker
• Measuring tape
• Fray check

1. Start by turning your skirt inside out and placing it down flat. Find the side seams and rotate them to the center of the skirt so they’re facing you. If your skirt is without side seams, then just mark where each side is with a sewing or safety pin.

2. Once you’ve rotated the side seams to the “middle” of the skirt, it should look like this:

3. Next, determine how long you want the front part (aka the high part) of your high-low skirt to be. The easiest way to do this is by measuring the length of a miniskirt that you already own and transferring that measurement to the FRONT of your skirt. Remember to start measuring at the waistband and work your way down from there. Mark your desired length with some tailor’s chalk.

4. Now it’s (finally) time to add your asymmetrical hem! To do this you’ll need to sketch out a curved line (it should resemble a stretched-out, sideways S) that extends from where we marked your FRONT skirt length all the way to the corner of the BACK of the skirt right above the hem.

5. Once you have the hemline sketched out, you can begin the cutting process! Try to keep the skirt flat at all times whilst you’re cutting, otherwise the fabric will shift, and it might cause random jagged edges.

6. Last, you’ll need to finish the hem. I know that sewing an uneven hemline (or even a pleated one if your skirt is like mine) can be a total pain, so to save you some time and frustration, I suggest investing in a bottle of fray check. It’s only a few bucks and will make your hem ~fray free~ once you apply it to the raw edges.

And that’s really all there is to it! After the fray check dries, your skirt is ready to wear. See, why would you spend any money on this?! ♦