A skirt to....a more different skirt

First of all, I have to apologize (again) for my absence--between learning to re-balance my life to accommodate a new dating relationship over the last couple of months, and an insane from-scratch sewing project that pretty much sucked up the first two months of this year (I made a fully lined and underlined and waterproofed raincoat), refashioning is one of those things that just kind of fell to the wayside. So I'm grateful that I'm still allowed to be a contributor to this wonderful community!

Ok, enough sappiness. On to the good stuff.

For me, a frequent source of things to refashion are my own older sewing projects. I'll decide that I can get something to fit better, or that the style just isn't working for me anymore. This skirt falls into the latter category.

This was my original skirt-- I made it years ago as a knockoff of one that I saw and loved in the Anthropologie catalog. I wore it fairly frequently for years, but it was getting to the point where the problems with it outweighed the good stuff. The skirt was cut on the bias, so the waistline stretches quite easily, and I was already having to take it in every 2 years or so. And there were issues with the lining--the internal finishing wasn't that great, so the rougher selvedge of that sheer "petticoat" bit where it attached to the lining had a tendency to snag and pull at whatever tights I was wearing underneath. (I get cold easily. Tights-less in the winter isn't an option for me!) And the style was kind of limiting, as in I literally have about 1 shirt I could wear this with.

So since it was at a point where I had to take it in again anyway, I decided to go one step further and make this fit my wardrobe better.

This is how it ended up. It was a little more complicated than a simple shortening job, since I needed to tweak the fit as well. So I started by entirely dissecting the skirt--I took the zipper out, I detached the lining, and I completely undid both side seams.

Then I used the wide yoke pieces from this sewing pattern that I already had around and had made beforeto cut a new waistband from the top. (The original skirt didn't have a waistband, just complete facing from the lining.)

Since I didn't have enough of the original fabric to line it in the same suedecloth, I cut the lining from a scrap of fabric in my stash that was fairly close in color. I also cut it on the straight grain to help off-set any stretching that the bias-cut yoke would want to do. (After seeing this pic, I probably should have interfaced that lining, but I already downgraded a size from the original pattern cutting and I was concerned that interfacing would make it so it didn't fit.)

Like my ribbon loop? That's my tag so I know which side is the back--they look identical, though the yoke was not!

I also decided to play up the suede look of the fabric. So I topstitched the yoke, and machine hemmed it-- I knew from experience that it wouldn't hem well by hand. To avoid the bulge at the bottom, I used this ribbon that I had on hand--sewed one side to the fabric and the other down as the hem, and it gave a really nice, clean machine-stitched finish! (I know the coloring isn't the best, but the ribbon I used for the "tag" was way too wide. I tried. And this particular type of ribbon took the curve of the hem better.)

As for that petticoat layer...I have plans for it. Stay tuned.

So that's it for now-- thanks for looking!