Your Basic Skirt Resize

Yesterday, after work, I tackled another one of those jobs that only takes a half hour or so, but isn't very glamorous. Weeks ago, I found a skirt at the thrift shop--loved the colors, loved the price, and figured I could do something about it being three sizes too big. One point in the skirt's favor? It zipped up the back. MUCH easier to resize when you aren't dealing with a side-seam zipper! I know, I know--it's tempting to just leave the zipper and sew up one side, but then you have problems with darts and curves and stuff.

I have to confess, back when I started sewing, I would have just sewn straight up the side seams of this skirt, right over the hem and the waistband. It worked okay to make the skirt fit, but I knew I could do better work. Now I take the time to rip out a bit of the hem on either side of the seam. It doesn't take long, and then, once you've taken the sides in, you can resew the hem so it's smooth and flat!

As for the waistband, there's nothing worse than having lumpy bumps at the sides because you've sewn layers and layers of waistband into your new seams. In this case, I left the waistband attached in the front, and just removed it from the back of the skirt, starting an inch or two before the side seams. Then, after taking it in, I reattached the waistband, shortened it a bit, and sewed the hook and eye back on. Sewing the hook and eye back on was probably the hardest part of the whole process!

That's it! I didn't do traditional Before and After shots, because it's just a plain, A-line skirt that doesn't look a bit different aside from being a little smaller now. All the exciting stuff happened on the INSIDE!