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...

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