Maxi Skirt to Dress

I found this maxi skirt at Queens Crescent's market (London's oldest marked apparently) and fell in love with the retro patterns. It's actually a H & M skirt, so it's not that old. I would have just brought it in to fit as a maxi-skirt, but I needed some work clothes - so a dress it will become, which makes me a wee bit sad as I'm rediscovering the long skirt. I haven't worn them since I was a teenager!

Too much maxi...

I'm holding this back, but it's 3 sizes too big.

 I have a great dress that is wide and square-ish at the shoulders and elasticated in the middle. This is a gorgeous dress on, so I was hoping to re-create it. I've never refashioned an elasticated middle before, so this was entering new territory for me....

I put the dress over the top of the skirt and pulled the original dress out at the waist to get the actual size of the material. Then I cut the elastic to the size of the dress as is.

This makes the body sack like..

So I went and stitched this up sans the area where I was going to cut sleeves. Once the sides were stitched, I placed the dress over the skirt again and went to marking out the sleeves. I cut the holes and stitched them under ( I'll place some ribbon on the inside over the hems later - I was running late!) and worked to stitching down the top of the dress (the waist band) to make shoulders and a hole for the head. 

 

So, all stitched up and sewn (there was already a small zip in the back- I prefer to work with what I've got!) I attached the elastic - I've not done this before and it was  hard!! Any tips on the best way to do it would be appreciated :)

All in all, it was actually a really basic re-fashion. The fact that the material is such a stand-out means that it will be striking, and the wider shoulders give it a chance to, well - strike!

So, the end result was great (the pattern's an eye-catcher!) but you may see this one again. I'm not really happy with the elasticated waist or the sleeves, so it pretty much back on the project pile ... 

Thanks for reading!!!