Feeling Kinda Thrifty: A New Life for a Neglected Skirt

Last summer I was out shopping for a few light weight skirts, and I found this beautifully printed round skirt at Ross for just ten dollars. I loved it, but there was a small problem when I tried it on. It was a teensy bit snug. When I tried to find another size, I discovered that there was just one left. Now, I wonder if any of you have done this. I told myself, "What the heck. Just get it. You'll probably lose weight anyway."

Well, it's been over a year, and guess what? It's still too snug. Obviously, I didn't get much use out of this skirt.

Sad, neglected skirt.

In fact, I had forgotten about it until a few weeks ago when my two year old son pulled it out of my closet and said, "This is a nice skirt, Mommy." I thought, "Oh yeah. It is." And I got to work right away giving it a new life.

Note: now that I am writing this post, I realize that I did not take enough photos. I hope that my explanation makes sense.

I put my head through the top of the skirt and let it hang over my shoulders. Looking in the mirror, I lifted my arms out to the side and pinned the bottom of the skirt to create a cuff, making sure to give my arms enough room to move around. Then I used a pin to mark under each of my arms on one side of the skirt (I couldn't pin through the skirt, or I wouldn't have been able to lift it over my head). The pin markers under my arm were to let me know how far up that I needed to sew. Next, I pinned (again on one side of the skirt) to mark each side of my waist, taking care not to make it too snug. At this time, I had a pinned triangle of sorts.


I wouldn't say this is my exact measurements, but it shows the point.

I then cut along the lines as shown above. After cutting, I flipped the skirt inside out and sewed the raw edges, right sides together. Presto! In about ten minutes I had created a new shirt and given life to this sad, neglected skirt. I loved it so much that I wore it on a date to the pub with my husband and son.