The One Dollar Skirt

I wanted to sew something, but did not have the energy or inclination to cut out anything new. I wanted to sew something uncomplicated. A bread and butter, comfort food sort of project.

Enter refashioning.

This is the first project I have ever salvaged from another piece of clothing. Sure, I’ve taken in dresses and adjusted the width of a pant leg but more or less the product was simply a better fitting version of the original.

This skirt came from a Brooks Brother’s dress I picked up at a thrift store for a dollar (!). It’s made of this really great stretch denim, so even though it was a size smaller than I would normally wear it still fit my hips. My bust, not so much. The upper part was interfaced in such a way that the majority of the stretch was gone.

So snip snip, the top came off and the upper band on the bust became a narrow waistband. I even managed to salvage the original zipper by simply unzipping the back all the way, unpicking a few inches of zipper above what would be my cut line (to sew into the waistband), cutting away at the skirt, and then continuing on my merry way.

It is still a little snug, somewhere in the middle on the tightness scale that ranges from Joan Holloway Wiggle Dress to Stuffed Sausage. Hopefully a little more towards the Joanie end than not. Maybe it will be motivation to do sit ups (Psh, riiiiiight). Still, I loves it.