I wanna put on a tight skirt and flirt with a stranger

I found this skirt while rummaging through my closet that seems to have been from several years ago, and I'm pretty sure it's child's sizing.  I've been itching to do a refashion, so here's what I came up with to make this skirt a lot more wearable for me.

Get Ready:

-elastic measured exactly the length of your waist + 2 inches extra

-fabric (or skirt) wider than your waist (the elastic needs some space to stretch)

-lots and lots of pins

 

I wanted to keep the ruffly edge of the bottom of the skirt, so I  cut the original thin elastic band off and trimmed a 3 inch band off so that enough was left to fold over for a new waistband and keep the skirt at the right length.

Pin, pin, pin! Since I cut off the elastic band, the gauzy overlay and the knit slip underneath were no longer connected. 

 I zig-zag stitched the two layers together to make it easier to fold over the new waistband.

I folded over the edge again inside and zig-zag stitched the edge to keep it from fraying further in place of a serger.

I used a 1 inch wide elastic, so I folded over to the inside enough for a 1 inch elastic plus a seam allowance of about 3/8"

Sew around the bottom of the waistband (straight stitch) and stop with about an inch gap.  Don't finish up the seam or else you won't be able to thread your elastic through!  I used a safety pin to scrunch it through the waistband, make sure that you don't lose the other end too.

 

Pull the elastic through and overlap the ends about 2 inches and pin together.

 

Sew the elastic together using a box stitch, try not to stretch the elastic while you are sewing it together.  The box stitch is a strong stitch and should hold even if with excessive stretching.  Distribute the fabric evenly around the waistband, push the elastic into the waistband, and stitch the gap closed in the waistband.  

Optional: Add a vertical straight stitch to the two side seams to hold the elastic in place better.

I would definitely recommend using a ton of pins, especially when trying to work with two layers at once. There's some slight bunching of the top layer near the waistband that would have looked nicer if it was laying flat, but I'm too lazy to go back and fix it now.

 Side note: I spent a lot of time sitting around in my underwear trying on the skirt while making it to make sure it was falling at the right length :]

((Out Tonight by RENT))