Easy DIY Transformation: Muumuu to Cute Skirt!

Last week I made my first big thrift store transformation, and I am so excited to share it with you! But first, some background is required. 🙂 This whole post is an homage to the amazing Marisa Lynch, who turns crazy-looking thrift store garments into beautiful clothes in a million creative ways. She inspired me to get a sewing machine, and she keeps on inspiring me almost every day on her bright and beautiful blog New Dress A Day. (Her project started with the goal of turning 365 old garments into new pieces, one each day for a year, spending only $365 total. And she totally did it!) When I saw this big muumuu at my favorite thrift store, I bought it, with just such a transformation in mind. I cannot resist polka dots! I don’t know if you can tell from the picture how comically big it is on me, but no matter: I knew the fabric belonged in my closet!

I started by measuring the right amount to cut for a skirt. I wanted it to be close to knee-length.

I bought some 1″ elastic from my local fabric store and measured it around my waist to determine the right length. (You could also use your measurements, but I knew that I wanted the skirt to sit somewhere between my waist and my hips, so I moved it around until I had it where I wanted it.)

Then I put a simple seam in the elastic to close the circle, and started sewing the red fabric to it. There are several ways to sew fabric onto elastic, but I chose the pull and stitch way. Basically, you are stretching the elastic on both sides of the machine as you are sewing. Then when it retracts, it draws the fabric in, creating little gathers. It wasn’t too hard to get the hang of it.

I could not believe how quick this project was! And now I have a shiny new polka dot skirt in my closet! I think the best part is that I’ve still got the top of the muumuu to work with. I am scheming about what it will become…:)

I put it on this weekend (with teal, of course!) and loved it! Have you done any transformations like this one? I’d love to see them! If you are looking for ideas, I cannot recommend Marisa’s blog highly enough. Not too much else to report from my weekend, except that Eric helped me give the blog a bit of a fresh look (thank you!), and I wrote a new About Page, where you can see me, again, in, you guessed it…red and teal! Hope you all had a beautiful weekend!