My Ugly Skirt Upcycle from Skirt Fixation!

by April Iris McLeod

of ThereCanBeOnlyOne

From this

To this

The Ugly Skirt Before—shapeless, dated, with a big hole

in the back!

After—stylish, high-low cocktail dress with added straps, sash,

and top trim!

The wonderful people at SkirtFixation.com sent me an “Ugly Skirt” in the mail to refashion as I chose. I checked the mail with much anticipation every day until the skirt arrived! When I opened it, I thought, wow, that’s not as

ugly as I expected. I really like the fabric and it has adorable covered buttons, BUT, there was a big hole in

the back (on a seam,) and, the more I thought about it, I realized I had bought several skirts like this over the years

and ended up giving them away because this shape is just not flattering! So, I thought—at least I like the fabric and I tried it on, pulled it up, and realized it would make

a cute cocktail dress!

Left: Covered Buttons

Below: The BIG HOLE in the back!

Left: A scrap leftover from a

bed skirt—Compliments the

green in the skirt fabric nicely!

So, I pinned the hole in the back seam and serged it (with the colors I already had in my machine—since you won’t see the inside.) Next, I ironed

the whole skirt, paying special attention to the button and buttonhole plackets down the front, because, next, I stitched those down because they ALWAYS wrinkle in the wash. I didn’t need to use the buttons, so I decided to sew the placket closed to about 8 inches from the bottom. The last photo shows the inside of the placket with basting stitches and topstitching on both

sides.

These top 3 pictures show 1) one side of the front top edge turned under and pinned, 2) both sides turned under and basted from the inside, 3) the turned-under front from the outside. Blue line in first

2 pics shows original top front of skirt, while the red shows the new top edge. New neckline shown in blue in pic. 3 (The excess fabric

was trimmed from the inside)

Bottom pictures show hand cut and pressed bias tape made from green fabric, hand-stitched to the top edge from side seam to side

seam outside, then inside.

Next, I cut a long, straight piece of the green fabric about 4 inches wide, I made a tube and turned it inside out. I centered the seam on the back

side, and stitched a channel running down the middle for elastic to thread through. I tried the dress on over a bra to see where to place the straps (I wanted them to hide my bra straps,) and cut them about 2 inches longer than I needed. I measured the elastic for fit and threaded it through the channel. I zigzagged across both ends, catching the elastic (you could make the straps longer which will give them more ruffle, but I wanted

them just a little “scrunched”.) Then, I stitched each end of each strip to the front or back of dress where previously marked. I then topstitched

across the front bias strip, catching the straps in the topstitching for extra strength.

The final step was cutting another long length, making a tube with tapered ends and stitching it together to make the sash! I

hope you enjoyed my UGLY SKIRT Refashion! Thanks SkirtFixation.com ;-)

(I’m making an adorable hand-stitched clutch from the green fabric, then I’m going out in my new dress!)