From a dress to a skirt - refashion project

A 4T cotton dress bought many years back and has been dearly worn yet still in good condition only now the bodice is quite tight for Sofea (who is 9yo). It has been hanging in my studio for months (over a year actually.. *roll eyes*) waiting for me to get an epiphany... which I finally did (thank god) last weekend.

I turned the dress into a skirt *grin* 

The first step was to unpick the stitches. All I needed was a long drive to somewhere, and coincidently last weekend we did go on a road trip and I separated the bodice from the skirt (as pictured). The dress originally (as usual forgot to take a before picture) has a full twirly skirt with lots of gathers and is fully lined.

I wanted to maintain the gathers and the lining so after un-gathering the skirt, I gathered it again (check out this gathering tutorial). 

Next, for the top edge of the skirt, I decided to make a waistline casing for the elastic band using some fabric tape from my stash (see the how to here). Once you have the proper length, pin the tape to your skirt with the right side facing.

Similar to attaching a bias tape, sew on one side, turn, fold and sew again, only this time you need to leave a gap to insert the elastic band. Once threaded and tried on for sizing, zigzag the raw ends. Tuck the band into the casing and topstitch the opening closed by machine.  

And there you have it, a pretty simple refashion project.. I didn't stop there, went ahead to refashion a shirt to go with the skirt. Will post that up next. 

Do you have any refashion ideas? 

On another note, my giveaway is still on till the 10th.

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