Re-Purpose: Old Dress into New Skirt (with elastic waistband)

 I was going through a box of pre-pregnancy clothes (I finally got it out of the attic) 

and I found one of my favorite fall dresses but it didn't fit right any more. 

Well, honestly it never really fit to begin with but I loved the fabric and the pockets on the skirt. 

To save this long time favorite I decided to make it into a skirt with an elastic waist band! 

It's always nice to have a new skirt!

I love pockets on skirts.

The elastic waistband makes the gathering. 

Supplies:

-An old dress that fits your waist or a skirt that has pleats or gathers and a zipper will work also

-Elastic (enough to go around your waist)

-Ribbon if the dress (or skirt) doesn't have a sash

-Sewing machine and supplies

First I took out the zipper with a seam ripper. (The zipper actually got stuck and broke years ago and I had been pinning it.. oops) Then I cut just under the skirt and bodice seam removing the skirt part of the dress. Next I cut off the sash which was only attached at the front

 

To keep those useful little pockets I re-secured the top with a zigzag stitch.

Then I stitched both pieces of the sashes together, folded it in half and pressed it.

To make a casing for the elastic I sewed the sash about an inch from the top of the skirt with the raw edges of the sash on the wrong side of the skirt.

I sewed it all the way around over lapping it an inch and folded under the end.

Then I folded the sash over and stitched it to the front side. This makes the elastic casing.  

Make sure to leave a gap in the stitching to put the elastic through. (I like to put a safety pin at the end of the elastic to help guide it, and when you get all the way through you can safety pin the elastic together for a fitting instead of using a straight pin and accidentally poking yourself.). At this point I tried my new skirt on to make sure it fit well and adjusted it accordingly.

I used a zigzag stitch to sew the elastic together.

Then I stitched the hole closed

There it is... an easy way to keep an old favorite. And now it's more comfy too!