Sewing: giving a new life to an old skirt
I have owned this tiered gypsy skirt from the time I was in high-school and possibly even a little earlier. Complete vintage 1980's. In the past 2 decades or so, the skirt has mostly sat in my closet because 1) I turned away from ankle length skirts (they don't balance my frame very well) and 2) it looked a little worn out. But it turns out, all of the wear resided in the waist band so once I cut that away, the skirt gained a complete new life.
It did not happen all in one go, but ultimately, I ended up using the top tier of the skirt as fabric to construct a waist band. I did away with the elastic band, favoring a zipper closure. This is the tutorial that I followed to build the waist band.
It uses bias tape (I bought mine, she makes it from scratch) to do a clean finish. There is another tutorial by the same Youtuber that is slightly simpler and that I might try for my next waist band:
In making the waistband, I discovered the magic of fusible interfacing. I am now thinking about making some wide fabric belts (obi type belts).
To set in the zipper, I used this tutorial. I can't make heads or tails of the instructions that come with the zippers, so I like that simple method. It works. One does need a zipper foot on the sewing machine.
The altered skirt comes down to below the knees and has more body than the longer version did. It generally looks less tired!
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| Skirt after alteration |
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| Original skirt |
It uses bias tape (I bought mine, she makes it from scratch) to do a clean finish. There is another tutorial by the same Youtuber that is slightly simpler and that I might try for my next waist band:
In making the waistband, I discovered the magic of fusible interfacing. I am now thinking about making some wide fabric belts (obi type belts).
To set in the zipper, I used this tutorial. I can't make heads or tails of the instructions that come with the zippers, so I like that simple method. It works. One does need a zipper foot on the sewing machine.
The altered skirt comes down to below the knees and has more body than the longer version did. It generally looks less tired!
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