This has been a very procrastinated-upon project. I started the makeover several months ago, then left it lay around without being finished for a long time. Finally I buckled down and finished it, and in less than a half-hour it was completed! Another reminder that procrastination never pays. 🙂

Anyway, this skirt started out as a thrift store find: a very long, straight skirt I used to wear a lot in the summer. A solid gray that goes with anything, in a non-wrinkling fabric (though after being stuck in a redo-or-mend stack for a long time it did get some wrinkles in it). I had dressed it up years ago by doing some embroidery on the front above the hem, so it was also personalized.

Yet it was always too long to be practical. After I lost weight last year, this skirt settled down around my hips and what had been an ankle length skirt now puddled on the floor! It went from being impractical to being impossible.

I considered just getting rid of it, but liking the color, fabric and embroidery, I decided to try doing something else entirely. My first makeover.

I cut it off just under the zipper, which made the length about right. I wanted to cut the waistband out of the remnant, but the darts made that impossible. So I cut out a waistband from another fabric. Not the closest color, but close enough. I usually wear my blouses out over the skirt band anyway.

Marking the center of the front of the skirt, and the waistband, I pinned it together and began to play with the extra fabric. 

I tried several ways of pleating the extra fabric.

And decided on just a single box pleat in the front. For the back I did long darts to use up the extra.

From there on, it was just like finishing any skirt. I put in a short zipper by hand, and whipstitched down the waistband. 

Now I have a much more practical skirt that will actually get some wear!

I'm quite pleased with my first attempt at a makeover. I think there are more pieces in my closet that deserve a new lease on life as well. 

It's nice to have what feels like a new addition to the wardrobe without all the work of making it from scratch. 

Since I'm wearing it in these photos, I have to show you another favorite thrift store find – a classic pullover sweater. It's another one of those modern pieces that can easily become vintage with the right accessorizing.

A simple V neck and pretty puffed sleeves make it suitable for 1930s and 1940s wear. Plus it's comfortable! One of my favorite ways to dress vintage even when I don't feel like dressing up.

I think more makeovers are on the radar for the future! (After wedding sewing, though, I think. 🙂