Elastic waistband skirt (Skirt from dress up-cycling 1)

Do you remember the Christmas carol dress? Well, my sweetheart loved that dress and me too but it was becoming too small for her, so I decided to turn it into something else...

So, here is the skirt made from the dress. It´s a simple skirt with an elastic waistband. I made it when my daughter was on holiday and I did not want it to be too tight or to large in waist, that´s why I decided for the elastic.

The old dress:                                                                                 The new skirt:

So, how to proceed to make a simple skirt with an elastic waistband from a dress?

All you need to have is an elastic for the waistband. Choose a larger one.

1/ First of all, a little bit of calculation. Measure the width of your elastic. Count 2 x width of the elastic + twice the seam allowance. I had a 3 cm elastic, so in my case, it was:
(3 cm x 2) + (2 x 1 cm) = 8 cm.

2/ Measure that width from the seam of the skirt and the waistband and cut your dress.
So I cut my dress 8 cm from the seam.

3/ Fold a seam allowance (in my case the seam allowance = 1 cm) and press it. Then fold it again so that the waistband hides the seam between the waistband and the skirt. Pin it all around.

4/ Topstitch it leaving a small opening (5 cm). Using the safety pin, string the elastic inside, stitch the ends of the elastic together and topstitch the rest to close the opening.

Voila!
You´re all done. Your lovely waistband finished and neatened the topline of your skirt by enclosing its raw edges so the inside of the skirt is as lovely as the outside. :-) Cool how easy it is, isn´t it?

I used the rest of the fabric from the dress to sew a little "Pompadour" purse. A new purse or bag always makes pleasure to a little girl, right? It makes her feel like a lady...

Have a nice weekend and a lot of fun weekend sewing!

Zuzana