A couple of months ago I did some major purging of old clothes, both of mine and the kids. Many of my clothes from years past no longer fit after I've lost weight. Some fit, "kind of" but in an ill fitting way...those clothes I tossed into a pile to potentially update at a later date...
One of the pieces in the pile was a foldover waistband maxi skirt that I bought on clearance last Spring. It was a bit too big when I bought it in the first place, but the price was right, so...This Spring it didn't stay up on my waist, but I loved the color and stripes and the knit is so soft and cozy. So, back in May as a part of "Me Made May" I turned it into a dress...
It was crazy simple to do, and I'd imagine you could do the same with a sewn maxi as well such as the Syrah skirt from Selvage Designs as I'm hoping to try this summer...But for now, here's how I changed my RTW maxi skirt into an easy summer dress...
To start, sew about 1 1/4" or so below the top of the skirt to create a casing. Then pick open the side seam at the top of the skirt, wrap a piece of 1" elastic around your chest, above your bustline/under armpits make sure it is snug, so it doesn't fall down, but not too snug, cut elastic. Feed the elastic through the casing along the top of the skirt starting and ending at the small picked side seam. Overlap elastic ends about 1", sew together (make sure the elastic is not twisted). Stitch side seam closed with coordinating thread.
Next, I used elastic thread to create a little runching at center front of my dress in the same way I did with my Skippy "hack"...by sewing a line down the center from the top all the way down to the foldover "waistband" (when it had been a skirt). I stitched two lines about a 1/8" apart (you might need three even) using elastic thread along the waistband seam as well to create a bustline...
And, along the back I added several lines of elastic shirring as well to ensure that the dress would stay put...
For the back shirring I used elastic thread again and, beginning at the top, I stitched lines from side seam to side seam about every 5/8" all the way down to the foldover waistband seam.
And that's it! With the addition of some elastic and a few lines of elastic thread, I've now got a super simple and easy to toss on summer dress...
Perfect super hot days or for the pool or post pool...or barefoot walks in the backyard...
That's one salvaged item from the clothing bin!
