How to make a skirt (from dish towels!)

What kind of a mother sets out to dress her children in rags?

Um...

Well, me.

Except, its not as bad as it sounds. After all, they are more like towels than rags. 

Dish towels to be exact. And they are floral and polka dot and damask-y. Surely no one would use these as rags!

When I came across these dish towels at Target (where else?), I instinctively picked them up. They don't match my decor, but at $5.99 for the set, how could I not?

After throwing around a few ideas, I finally settled on using them to make skirts for my girls.

I began by cutting the first towel in half - this would be for my oldest (who typically wears a size 5 or 6). 

The second towel would be for my youngest (usually a 2T or 3T), but I didn't need as much length, so I subtracted a few inches (making sure to account for the waist). Also, I loved the ruffle on the left side of the towel, so I made this the front of the skirt.

An additional step that I took for my younger daughter's skirt was to trim off the edges at an angle so that it wouldn't be too wide for her (no measuring involved - I just held it up to her and estimated). As you can see, I still left a lot of room at the waist for gathering.

My next step for each skirt was to sew the sides together (right sides facing each other). 

Because the bottom hem was already done for me, I just had to create a waist band. To do so, I folded the top twice and ironed it down. Then I sewed along the edge, leaving a small opening to fit in the elastic. 

To finish, I fed the elastic through, connected the ends, and sewed up the hole. 

Two skirts completed, without having to decipher a pattern, in under an hour, and that cost less than $8 total (after elastic)? 

I call that a success. 

I will proudly send my girls out in these "rags."