There is a box, in the corner of my sewing room.
It is a box whose contents have not seen the light of day for many a month.
Many crafters will be familiar with this box, in all of its forms: There’s the ever-growing
amorphous lump that lies underneath your desk…
The monster underneath your bed…
The stuff you vacuum-packed in a fit of organization and stuffed into your garage in the hopes
that you’d never have to deal with it again…
This, my friends, is the UNFINISHED SEWING PILE.
So the item that I grabbed out of the top of the style pile box today was this robot-print
dress.
I thrifted the dress a couple of weeks ago for 50 cents, because I LOVED the fabric,
but it had this massive rip on the sleeve.
I thought about simply removing the sleeves and keeping it as a sleeveless dress, but
after trying it on, I realised that it was too tight across the bust, and it "pancaked"
my boobs - so I decided that I would turn it into a skirt.
So first up, I laid the dress flat on the floor, and I made sure that the front and
back were even.
I put some pins into the fabric to hold the front, back and the lining fabrics in place,
and then I drew a chalk line straight across the fabric just underneath the arms.
And then I cut through the front, back and the lining fabrics with a pair of fabric scissors,
leaving me with this – and it’s already looking like a skirt, right?
I turned it inside out, and because it has lining fabric which I want to keep, the first
bit of sewing that I did was to attach the lining and the skirt fabrics together at the
top here.
This will keep the lining in place.
And for this I used a long straight stitch.
Next, I got myself some elastic and I measured it to fit my waist, at the part of my waist
where I want the skirt to sit.
I made sure the elastic was slightly snug around my waist, and then I cut it to this
length.
Now it’s time to make some casing for that elastic!
I lined the elastic up next to the skirt, because I’ll need this casing to be just
a little bit wider than the elastic.
And then, with it still inside-out, I simply folded the top of the skirt down like this,
making sure both the robot fabric and lining were folded in the same way.
When I was happy with how it was folded all the way around the top of the skirt, I pinned
it in place, and then I sewed using a straight stitch all the way around the top of the skirt,
front and back, leaving a SMALL GAP here.
And I used black thread because this stitch will be visible on the right side of the fabric.
So after sewing around about 95% of the casing, I stopped because I wanted to leave this small
gap in which I could insert some elastic.
To insert the elastic into the skirt, first I put a safety pin through one end of the
elastic, which will help me to guide it through the casing.
And then I guided the elastic through the casing, all the way around, until it came
back out the other side.
Then, I sewed the two ends of the elastic together like this, using a zig zag stitch,
and then I sewed over that small gap in the casing.
Then I tried on the skirt, and I could have finished here – but I decided that it would
look a little bit better if I could wear it with a belt – so the last thing that I’m
going to do is to make BELT LOOPS.
Which would have been a lot easier to do before installing the elastic.
But, hey – I never sew things in a logical order, and I’m not going to start today.
I thought about using the rest of the robot fabric for belt loops, but then I remembered
how flimsy the fabric is – that rip didn’t happen because the fabrics were strong – so
instead I grabbed myself some thicker black linen.
I drew equal-sized 4 rectangles onto the fabric, and then I cut these out.
For each belt loop, I folded the edges of the fabric into the middle like this, and
then folded this in half, and then I sewed down this edge.
Then, I folded the raw ends in like this, and sewed over the top of them like this.
Then, I attached each belt loop to the skirt equally around the waistband, by sewing the
bottom of it on just underneath the casing like this, and for the top of the belt loop
I hand-stitched on to the top of the casing like this.
If I hadn’t added the elastic first, I could have sewn it with my machine – but I didn’t
do that.
Anyway, illogical sewing aside, this is how it turned out!
I really, really, really like it!
Now, you can basically do this for any rectangular-bit of fabric, that is larger than your waist
and that you can fit over your hips, and that you’ve sewn into a loop.
This is a really good method of making a dress - without a fitted waist - that you loved
but maybe that you've outgrown into something that you can wear again!
And I was definitely right about adding the belt loops – I think that the skirt looks
SO much better with them.
I’m so happy that I was able to give this broken dress another life as a skirt.
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Any amount, even $1 per month, will really help me out.
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