I turned a stained, faded dress into a skirt. Come see!
Some time ago, this dress came along in a bag of hand me downs, and I've never quite been able to figure out what to do with it. The top is cut pretty generously when compared to the length and width of the dress, and so I don't think it ever had a prayer of fitting my slim girls. Plus, though you can't see this in the photo, the pink was very faded and there were several stains on the dress.
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And honestly, the eyelet wasn't really blowing my hair back.
I'd tossed around the idea of making it into a skirt, but that wouldn't really have dealt with the color issues or the stains.
(or the eyelet!)
But.
I happened to turn the dress inside out, and I realized the hot pink lining was still lookin' pretty fresh and fabulous. And I also realized that the bit of ruffled eyelet that peeked out of the bottom had potential.
A-ha!
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I kind of figured this out as I was going along, so I don't have any pictures of the process. But here's a quick summation of what I did:
- I cut straight across the middle of the dress, right through the zipper.
- I picked out the seams holding in the zipper, removed the zipper, and sewed up the gaps the zipper had left. Then I was left with what looked like a really wide-waisted skirt.
- I folded over the top edge, and sewed it down, and then I folded that edge over to make a waistband wide enough to hold an elastic band.
- After I sewed that down, I cut a piece of elastic to fit Lisey's waist, threaded it through, and then sewed up the ends (which was a little bit tricky because I was working with a couple of layers of fabric (the lining and what used to be the outside of the dress).
I did eventually get it figured out, though. And now instead of a basically unwearable dress, we have a cute pink skirt.
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It didn't even take me that long to do this...maybe an hour, and that's with interruptions.
And after Lisey gets too tall for it, there are other other girls in line to wear it.
Schweet.
You know what's great about working with hand-me-downs? It's so low pressure.
I paid nothing for the dress, it wasn't working as-is, and so even if I totally screwed it up, it would have been no great loss.
That seriously ups my willingness to hack it up and hope for the best, and it should for you too. If you've got clothes hanging around that aren't getting any use as-is, try modifying them. You haven't got much to lose, and you might end up with something you really like.
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Joshua's 365 post: It Works!
Looks great. I had my sewing machine out yesterday, making curtains for a friend. I just got a new machine a few months back a Janome New Home and I love it. I had clunker before that which made sewing a huge frustration but I am finding this new one works like a dream. What type of machine do you have?
I have a really basic Brother machine. It's not the most fabulous thing ever, but it does the simple stuff fine, which is what I need.
I love your clothing recreations. I have a set of t-shirts that I need to figure out what to do with.
Nice 🙂 I'm never brave enough to cut up clothes but this looks great.
Creative and frugal - nice! I love working with hand-me-downs and thrift store finds. My sewing skills aren't great, but you can do a lot with scissors, a sewing machine, and the willingness to try and fail 🙂 Keep inspiring us!
I feel the same way about writing, sometimes. I have some stuff I've cranked out but never published that's just a mess -- but maybe parts can be salvaged and re-used elsewhere. What do I have to lose?
Yep. If you already hate it, there's nowhere to go but up!
It looks great - you are a woman after my own heart. I did the same thing yesterday with two pair of capri's that I got while thrift-shopping. I made both pair into shorts. It's fun to think I got some new to me shorts for nothing, as I wasn't going to wear them as capri's and they had been in my jeans drawer for months!
Exactly. It's so fun to make something useful out of something that was gathering dust before.
That is pretty fabulous!
Great skirt!
I do this all the time. Just love the adventure of it. Just like a box of fancy chocolates, you Never know what you're gonna get! 🙂
That is great! I just finished reading "Overdressed," so I really appreciate your work to keep clothing from becoming disposable.
Great job!
Katy
Such a great read, wasn't it? Totally provided enough motivation to help me get through my mend/repurpose pile.
Cute! That dress looked like it was big enough for you. I love the ruffle at the bottom.
I know! The top was huge, but the waist would have been way too small for me and the length too short.
Kristen, is that skirt reversable? Cute skirt....
A beautiful skirt. Well done.
A beautiful skirt. Well done.
Pretty and ingenious. Perhaps in its next life the dress/skirt will be an apron...doll clothes...napkins...dust cloths?
Now that is impressive! Frugality at its finest!
OK - so your t-shirt post inspired me, but sewing is definitely not my forte, so I was nervous. But I had just consigned a 10-year old T-shirt to the rag bag because it was one of those giant oversized things (got it working a festival years ago) and it had a stain near the bottom on the front to boot! But it had a cool guitar print on the front and the fabric was in really good shape.
So, I figured it was a rag anyhow, what did I have to lose? I used your technique of using a well-fitting T-shirt as a guide and then just cut off the stained part along the bottom (it was WAY too long anyhow) and gave it a new hem.
Voila! It's not gonna win any fashion awards, but I've taken something that was a rag and turned it into something that's actually wearable! Woo Hoo! And I have about 10 more where that one came from! Don't think I'll be needing to buy t-shirts any time soon!
Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Kristen, seriously? That is just awesome 🙂
Same here. I have a lot of clothes that I no longer wear but I hate to just throw them away like that so I tweak them into something I can wear again. And it's a fun thing to do. It feels like you have new clothes again right from the closet instead of the department store. 🙂
Oh my gosh, Kristen, I love it! What a fantastic idea. Thanks for sharing it. 😀
What a cute little skirt that turned into! For any sewing challenged and/or lazy folks out there like myself, another way you can make something like this work is to simply turn the dress inside out and tuck the top under-and voila, instant skirt! I do this all the time when I want to wear a garment in a new way but don't want to permanently change it. It might be less practical for a kid who might be annoyed by a garment that doesn't fit them quite right and/or has extra fabric tucked under, but it works great for an adult who can handle it. I've turned skirts into blouses or dresses (just pull up over chest and add a belt), dresses into skirts, and even blouses or skirts into wrap scarves. There's pretty much no limit to it if you're willing to think outside the original purpose of the garment. Also, safety pins are my best friends! My five-year-old has gotten in on the fun too and will ask to borrow a tank top to wear "as a dress." Who needs a clothing budget when you've got ideas, right? Happy refashioning!
Adorable! I love these kinds of things, thanks for sharing!!