How to Make Your Own Duct Tape Skirt

A while ago I read about a contest where people make dresses out of duct tape. You know, I though, if seventeen year olds can do, surely I can as well. Of course, I didn't think much about it until, bored one day at work, I came across a stash of duct tape, something like forty unopened rolls. The project was on.
Initially, I tried to find some resources or a 'how to' guide on making a dress out of duct tape. Not only could I not find anything, I asked a ton of people for advice and the best they could come up with was "don't stick it onto your skin." Yes, I already knew that.
So in order to help spread the word on duct tape clothes, I've decided to put together this handy guide. It's fun, it's cheap and it's easy (just like your sister).
Materials :
Duct, Duck or Gaffers tape. Basically these are all just a thick tape made from woven vinyl-like material. It's available at Wal-Mart or at most hardware stores. Usually it comes in silver, but sometimes you can find it in black or brown. 3M makes a clear tape if you're so inclined. Gaffers tape is basically the same thing, but a little harder to find. If you can find it though it comes in a lot more colours and sizes, even up to three in. wide, which makes large projects a lot easier. A standard two inch by sixty yard roll will run you around $5.00 and you'll probably need a couple of rolls per project.

Scissors. Okay, you know what scissors are.

Pencil or marker. A pencil is a shaft of treated graphite surrounded by wood. A marker is a marker. Sharpies are best.

Measuring Tape. It's a ruler printed on a piece of thin plastic tape. If you don't have one try a hardware store, a sewing store or good ol' WalMart.
Okay, literally, that's all you need to get started.
The First Project:
The first thing I made was a pleated skirt which I used red gaffers tape on. Actually the second project was a reformatting of the pleated skirt concept that worked a little better. Here's how to make on.

First measure yourself from your hips down to where you'd like the skirt to go. If you're a horrid slut, make something short or if you're a prudish Mormon, you might make one longer. The skirts I made were in the middle, because I'm a prudish Mormon slut. If I had to recommend a medium length, it'll probably be around 12-16 in.

Peel off a strip of tape that's a couple of inches longer than your skirt length will be. Duct tape tears pretty easily, but you can use scissors if you have to. Lay the strip of tape out on the floor, sticky side up. The floor's a good working place, you'll need a lot of room.

Peel off a second strip roughly the same size. Place its sticky side down on top of the other piece, so that their sticky sides are both half covered. Do the same with a third strip. Then flip it over. That should leave you with one piece supporting two next to it.

Repeat the process twice more. Keep placing half the sticky side of one piece to the half-exposed sticky sides of the other pieces. (see fig. 01). Do this until you have a desired width; maybe one center piece with four side pieces or around four inches.

Once you've reached the desired width, simply fold down the exposed sticky sides of the tape. You're probably have some ragged edges. Measure carefully, mark the edges if you need to and cut the ends cleanly.

Protect the end of this sheet by taping a shorter pieces on the edge. Fold it over and you will have a solid tape edge that won't fray. Trim it down as necessary.

That should give you your first pleat. My skirt needed around nine or ten pleats, so repeat the process.

Next make the inner pleat using the same process. This should be shorter, probably about an inch and half shorter than the pleats you've already made. It should also be narrower, probably about half or a third the size of the outer pleats.

You will most likely need ten or so inner pleats. So, repeat the process. Don't worry, this'll only take about an hour or so. If you want to get creative, you might try making the inner and outer pleats different colors.

Now that you have completed the inner pleats and outer pleats, it's time to assemble the skirt. You can measure your waist or you can just begin construction and, during the process routinely wrap it around your waist to see how it's progressing. I recommend trying it on first, because it can be difficult to measure the skirt while it's under construction.

Start by taking two of the outer pleats and placing them together at about a fifteen degree angle so that two of the corners touch (see fig. 02).

Connect them at the top using smaller pieces of tape. Though the illustration shows only one small piece, you probably want to use more, perhaps one on each side with another folding over the top to make the skirt more strongly reinforced.

Take your first inner pleat. Fold it into a C shape (see fig 03). Place it on the gap between two of the outer pleats so that it's situated with it's bottom about an inch higher than the bottom of the outer pleates. Tape each side, being careful to retain the three-dimensional C shape of the inner pleat. Finally, tape it at the top and cease being careful about the 3D shape. Flatten it a bit at the top.

Keep repeating this, but stop every so often to make certain the skirt fits.

Once it fits, keep it in a wrap fashion. You can, if you like, sew buttons on one side and cut button holes on the other, or you can just tape it on when you wear it.

There you go, a complete duct tape skirt. Now you're ready to hit the grocery store, the driving range or the petting zoo in style
Below are pics of one of my creations, which I call the evil cheerleader outfit.

Other tips:

Once you've mastered the basic sheet making technique, you can go on to expand your creations. I made a corset top, plus a matching purse, wrist bands and choker. Get creative, have fun and try different things.

You can also get a dress pattern and work from it. This requires making larger sheets of the tape, which you then cut to the pattern, using tape instead of sewing them together

Duct tape isn't so flexible and doesn't conform to the body well. Unless you have a nice friend who's willing to tape you into the outfit and cut you out, your designs will probably limited to what you can actually manage to put on and look good in. In my first designs, the only top I could get into was so huge that it looked like a vinyl potato sack. Eventually I had to use a corset style and get tied into it to make it fit my body well enough.

It's not comfy and it doesn't hold up to well. If you're gonna go out, make sure you bring an extra roll with you to avoid any wardrobe malfunctions.

Have fun, and be creative. Mix up styles and designs and even decorate your fashions with other colors of tape or with acrylic paint or with markers.

Most Importantly, Just Have Fun!