Presto Change-O

I think this skirt has been in my refashion pile longer than any other garment. I bought it because I loved the Indian-print fabric. The skirt itself though? Eh. It was a bad length, and it had a really bunchy elastic waist. You know the type that billows out? Yuck. It hung in my closet for a while, then I moved it to my Halloween costume bin (no joke) in case I ever wanted to dress up like a Hippie!

Anyway, after the shirt nightmare (see previous post) I felt a simple project was in order. The first step was to shorten it by taking five inches off the top. There was no way I was going to mess with the bottom, because I thought the bands were perfect as they were. Whoever made the original skirt had lousy taste in silhouettes, but did me a big favor with the stripes. The last green stripe was actually applied as a separate piece. I think it looks much nicer ending with a repeat of the green than it would have ending with the deep red.

Once I hacked off the five inches, I went to work on making the whole thing slimmer. I figured all I had to do was make sure I could get it over my hips, but I overestimated that measurement, so I ended up taking it in a second time.

So, finally, after probably ten years, it took me 45 minutes to change this into something I'll wear! What was I waiting for?