My 1st Refashion - Long Skirt to Short Skirt & a Child's Dress

I'm finally back!  My girls are doing well and we've successfully completed the move to our new home.  The breakdown goes as follows:

New baby girl - 4 1/2 months old

Older baby girl - 3 years old

New home - 3 months old

Sprinklers - 1 day old (but 2 1/2 months in coming.....)

Jewelry Making setup - not quite done!

New crafty itch - refashioning!

So my first post back is a short update on me, and a longer post on refashioning old clothes into new clothes!  I was inspired by this gal's blog:  The Refashionista:  I'll Change the Way You Think About Fashion.  After paging through her blog and seeing the many cute outfits she'd made, I couldn't help but try myself.  I also have a thrift-store-shopping itch that I haven't gotten to scratch, so hopefully more refashions are coming in the future!  My closet is slim pickin's right now for refashions as I haven't dropped all the baby weight yet.....

My first refashion was this skirt:

The 1st Victim:  A long, outdated skirt

There is nothing wrong with this skirt - there are no holes, no stains, to tears.  But I haven't worn it in 12 years!  I still liked the print, and I had only worn it a handful of times, so I had trouble getting rid of it.  But I don't generally wear long skirts.  It's too cold in the winter months and too much fabric in the summer months!  Especially this skirt, because it requires a slip under it because it is VERY see-through.....Plus I wanted a skirt that I could wear now, and this one didn't fit again yet (see above - post baby weight not all gone!).

So I cut it in half!  The bottom half I remade into a simple skirt with an elastic waistband for myself.  I figure this way it will fit me through the weight loss months, and I can remake it smaller with a fitted waistband later if I so choose. 

My new skirt - ready to wear or be remade!

 

I also cut the slip I wore with this skirt in half and sewed it directly to the skirt!  I didn't wear it with anything but this skirt, and now it's a simple affair to grab my skirt and go!  I also don't have to deal with bunchy layers or the skirt sliding around on the slip this way. 

 New skirt with attached slip (or layer #2)

I still had the top half and I hate to waste if I can help it.  I could have refinished the bottom hem as is and kept it as a short skirt with a smaller waist size, but decided to give my 3 year old a new dress instead!  We have never had matching outfits before, but it sounded fun and cute so off I went!

Top of old skirt remade into a dress for my daughter!

 

First I pinned the skirt around my girl, with the old waistband as the new top.  I could make it fit her nicely even though it wasn't stretchy fabric because the old zipper and button closure was the new one for her dress!  I sewed along the pinned lines (garment inside out - right sides together), and cut off the extra fabric.  I chose to finish the seams with a serger.

Next I took my scraps and stitched the open seams closed, so I had 2 tubes of fabric to use as shoulder straps.  My girl tried the dress back on, and I pinned the straps in place and sewed as close to the seam of the old waistband as possible, and again on top of the band.

The old skirt closure is the new dress closure - quick and easy!

 

Then I took the top of the slip and sewed it inside with a zigzag stitch along the bottom edge of the old waistband.  The zigzag stitch was a little more decorative, and allowed the slip to stretch.  I also had to hem the bottom raw edge of both.  I serged them, then folded the skirt material under and stitched it again with a straight stitch for a more finished edge.  The final detail I chose to do was to pick out a flower stitch on my machine, and stitch it along the old waistband, right through the middle.  It disguised the strap stitching and added a little something fun to the dress!

My daughter in her new dress!

 

I could have made the top 1/2 of the dress into a top for myself, I suppose, but I really liked the idea of matching outfits with my daughter.  She loves it!  The length is a little short, but perfect for summer and it can become a top next year to wear with shorts!  She actually has shorts on under it in this photo, too.  Sorry, no photos of me in my skirt - maybe next time.....I think she looks like a little flapper in this photo!

I didn't take any during photos, as I was so excited to just get back to creating something!  Hopefully next time I won't be in such a rush and I can add more step by step photos and detail shots.

I look forward to posting more often and sharing more than just jewelry designs in the future.  With a new home to decorate, there should be all sorts of fun crafting and decorating ideas coming this way!

Happy Creating,
PZ