Dress to Maxi Skirt Refashion

Meg from Brassy Apple is one of the new contributors here on Infarrantly Creative. I met Meg like 5 years ago now and she has made a name for herself as an upcyling and fashion repurposer. You know how I feel about repurposing items! So please welcome Meg to the IC team by checking out her site.

I love to thrift and refashion pieces that have potential to be more, updated, stylish and chic again. Refashion is a passion of mine whether that is for my wardrobe or for my life. You can see more from me by checking out my site, BrassyApple.com

Today’s let take this oversized animal print dress and turn it into a maxi skirt perfect to wear anytime of year!

Supplies:

Knit or lightweight dress (any pattern/color) -I thrifted mine for $6.00 but you can use one from your closet too that maybe you don’t wear as much anymore.
Measuring tape
Scissors
Sewing machine – coordinating thread
Straight pins
2″ wide elastic – enough to go around your waist

1. Start but laying out your dress flat and cut straight across the dress right under the armpits. This gives you the most use of all of the fabric to work with.

Optional: Run a zig zag stitch or use a serger along the newly cut edge to keep the fabric from fraying and/or give it a finished look.

2. Measure your waist right at your belly button. Even if you don’t wear your skirts this high it’s best to measure here. You can always wear your skirt lower but as it rises and shifts through the day on your waistline you don’t want it to be to “wide or loose” around the waist. Cut a piece of the 2″ elastic to your measurement (I bought black elastic but it also comes in white).

3. Form the elastic in a loop (like a waistband) and overlap the ends about 1″. Pin. Then using a zig zag stitch secure the loop together sewing up and down the overlapped ends.

3. Attaching the elastic waistband to the “skirt” – It’s ok if the waistband and the skirt aren’t the same width. You can stretch the waistband as you pin them together to make it easier to sew. This will give your skirt a slightly gathered look when it is worn.

4. If your skirt has a back seam like mine does, make sure to line up the seam with the back of your waistband (the place where the two ends are overlapped and sewn). Working on the inside of your waistband, overlap the top of the skirt about 1/2 – 3/4″ over the bottom of the elastic and pin. Work your way around stretching the elastic as needed. Continue until the skirt is all pinned to the elastic. Then sew the two pieces together pulling the stretched elastic as needed.

The skirt is done! Your fabric of the skirt ends up sewn on the inside of your elastic band.

The fun thing about animal print is it goes with any color! Have fun mixing the colors and style of top and accessories to pair with it. Style that is easy, comfortable and chic for any season. If you need some ideas on styling a maxi skirt for Summer pop over to BrassyApple and also see how I styled it for the Different Seasons.