(Fairly) easy alteration: Downsizing an A line skirt

A friend gave me this adorable summer skirt that needed to be taken in.

Skirt after alteration

Construction of the skirt

It's an A line skirt, made of a slightly stretchy material. It has a wide waist band. There is a side zipper and 4 belt loops, 2 in the front, 2 in the back. There is a side seam opposite of where the zipper is, and a bottom band of black fabric, also with a side seam. 

The plan

1) Seam rip the waist band at the side seam opposite the zipper, separate from body of skirt for a few centimeters on either side of the seam

2) Two of the belt loops come off in the process. Save them to put back later.

3) Separate the bottom black band from the body of the skirt at the seam and a few centimeters on either side, like the waist band.

4) Sew a new side seam, resizing the skirt to fit. 

5) Sew the side seam of the black band so it matches the body of the skirt

6) Reattach the band to the body of the skirt

7) Try the skirt on, pin waist band in place. When happy with the fit, cut off excess fabric and finish the seam to prevent fraying. 

8) Sew up the side seam and reconstruct the waist band

9) Put the belt loops back, positioned properly for new skirt size

Things went roughly according to plan, except step 7 and 8 ended up being challenging and took multiple trials, in order to get the correct fit. I decided to do away with the belt loops instead of repositioning them. I am petite and I don't want to cut my body in half with a contrasting, wide belt. Once if fits, the skirts really doesn't need a belt.

One technique I learned was the use of the overhang stitch on my sewing machine to prevent fraying.

In finishing the waistband, I was unable to neatly reproduce the invisible stitching work used on the skirt, so I ended up top stitching all around. It worked well. It looks neat and no-one is the wiser.

Initial fit

Altered fit