Poppy Skirt

On Monday I posted about the problem dress. Too long, too stiff, etc. I'd intended to make it into a skirt, but I wasn't 100% sure that was the right thing to do. It felt wrong to cut it up for some reason. After several comments urging me to do just that, however, let me introduce my new skirt!

My first step in making this was to slice off the skirt of the dress about four inches from the waist. At that point, I tried it on to look at the length and to decide how much it would need to be taken in. The plan was to insert a zipper in the side seam, so I would have had to take it in about four inches on either side. That gave me pause, because I was still reluctant to cut the fabric. Hmm. I stood there, looking in the mirror for a bit, fiddling with the fabric, until I got the idea of making it into a wrap skirt. Out came the seam ripper, and out went the left-hand seam.

As it was, if I'd kept the right-hand seam on the side, I would have ended up with the overlap ending at an awkward spot. My husband suggested I put the seam up the back instead, which worked out perfectly once I added some darts for shaping. I used a piece from a commercial pattern to plan out the size and placement of the darts. (It never works when I try to wing it.)

To finish off the edges, I picked out a tiny bit of the hem, folded over the newly-exposed raw edges, and just sewed everything back up. For the waistband, I used quilt binding I had in my stash. The skirt closes with a snap and a ... what do you call those things? The ones that are like a hook and a bar?

Someday I may change that to a couple of buttons, but I'm still reluctant to do anything irreversible to the fabric if I don't have to. And, yes, I still have the fabric from the top of the dress to use for a bag!