Dress to Skirt Sewing Tutorial

DISCLAIMER: I am not a 'by-the-book' seamstress...I'm not even really a seamstress.  I just make crap up most of the time:)

Remember this dress?

 

 

Well, thankfully, it doesn't fit anymore (actually it didn't really fit while I was pregnant either, I sewed it shut in several places and let it out in others just to make it work).  So I wanted to re-purpose it, because while the top was a mess, the bottom still could be useful.

I started with the dress

and cut the top from the bottom by estimating how long I wanted the skirt (real scientific like...I held it up to me:)

see how it is too wide for my waist

 

Here is how we fix that...measure a piece of elastic to fit around your waist, also real scientific like;)

Sew the piece of elastic shut to make a circle

 

 The fabric is too wide for the elastic band you say...

No worries, just set your sewing machine to the longest straight stitch and sew all the way around the top of your skirt

 

Now pull just the top thread of the stitch to bunch the fabric and make it the same width as the elastic band

 

Pin the skirt to the elastic band

and sew the band on the outside of the fabric using a zigzag stitch which allows for stretching better than a straight stitch.

In less than one nap you have a dress you never wore into a skirt you can wear all the time!

 

(No, your vision is just fine. Yes, the picture is blurry...but if you are having trouble reading this, you might want to get your eyes checked out)

 

There I go with that Chambray shirt again...gotta love it!