written by marieann

I picked up this great Asian silk dress at the thrift store for $5 but I knew that I wouldn’t really wear it as such. It was really form fitting and not really my style. So I made this skirt that is just the right amount of Asian print and yet is much more wearable. I’ve got it paired with a long black shirt and it looks great.

Materials:
Form fitting dress you’d like to make into a skirt (Asian dresses work great)
1″ elastic (longer than your waist; don’t cut it until you’ve sized it in step 6)

Tools:
Sewing machine
Scissors
Safety pin (large)

Instructions:
1. Try the dress on and find your natural waist line. You can find this by bending sideways. The place that your side folds is your waistline.
2. Mark this point with a pin on either side of your body.
3. Remove the dress and lay it really flat and even. Line up the hem to be sure you’re going to cut straight across. Cut a line straight across the dress 2 1/2″ above the pins.
4. Fold the top of the skirt over 1 1/2″. Fold the bottom half inch under (to make a casing). Pin in place and sew along the bottom of the casing with a tiny seam. Leave a tiny hole (about 1 1/2″ in the casing to put your elastic thru).
5. Pin the safety pin thru one end of the elastic and push it thru your hole. Feeding the safety pin thru the casing, work it all the way around.
6. When you’ve gotten the elastic all the way thru, try the skirt on. Pull the elastic as tight as needed to hold up the skirt. Sew the ends of the elastic together with a zig zag stitch. Sew the hole you left in step 4 closed.

I found that the silk was difficult to work with so the band looks a bit wonky but it doesn’t matter as I would always wear a long shirt that covers up the waistband anyway.