Monday, August 15, 2011

Easy Refashion: Strapless maxi dress to skirt

I bought this Royal blue linen strapless maxi dress from a sale rack at Old Navy last summer. I love the look of the "handpainted" colorful lines at the bottom.
Unfortunately for me and others who are 5'4" or shorter, these lovely maxi dresses may as well be made for giants. I'd have to pull it up over my head for it not to drag the ground. haha. Wish I had a picture of that.

Anywho, I bought it with the intention of refashioning it into a skirt because it was the bottom hem line that I loved so much anyway.

Sounds easy to refashion, right? Actually it was! Here's how:

The dress already came with two elastic bands. One for the halter top and one for the waist. Since from the waistband down was still atrociously long for me, I had to make a cut farther down for my new waist.

I used one of the bands of elastic already on the dress, for my new waist. The elastic bands were sewn to the dress in a couple places, so I had to unpick a few seams to separate the elastic from the dress, and cut it in another spot. Not too tricky, just a bit annoying.

Before sewing my new waistband, I took in the sides a little bit. It was quite a bit fuller farther down. This dress has a liner, so I kept it all together as one piece, making sure it didn't shift.
Next, I folded under the new waistband. Make sure to leave an open spot to thread the elastic through.



After threading the elastic through, I stitched the spot closed. I think I may still sew a couple stitches to hold the elastic in place so it won't twist.

And there it is. The finished skirt. That started as a giant strapless maxi dress.



Sorry about the wrinkles. You know how linen can be.


Ah, and that lovely water color striped hemline...reminds me of Maui's coastline...


***Have you entered the Soothing Summer Skin Giveaway yet?***
There's still time! Go here and enter!

linked to:

4 comments:

  1. Those watercolor lines at the bottom of skirt are really pretty/cool.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Shannon,
    Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and commenting on my rope balls...took me a while to get the hang of them but I am sure you will manage.

    By the way I am your newest follower!

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete
  3. Would love it if you would share this at my new turquoise lovin' linky party!! http://www.sweetlittlegals.com/2011/08/turquoise-lovin-1.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Shannon, sorry but I could not find your email here.

    I was offered this Versatile Blog Award from Rikka (http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2011/08/versitile-blogger-award.html)

    You are getting this message, becaue I think what you do is great and I look up to you. Please take a look and let me know if you would be willing to play along if I were to nominate you.
    Thank you so very much for your time

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear what you have to say! Thanks so much for your comments! ♥

Blogging tips