A 25 cent skirt

So I went to a children's clothing resale clearance sale with my sisters a couple of months ago.  About four times a year this store has a huge clearance.  They rent another retail space for the weekend, set up banquet tables and throw all the unsellable clothes out in huge piles.  The public gets to dig through and try and find the gems. Every item of clothing sells for a quarter, so it's often worth your time if  you have young kids.  My kids are all too old to find much at these sales.  My sister was shopping for a new baby on the way, and I was helping her find the cute girly stuff.  We found several large bags of things for her and this for my middle girl: 

 It's a cute dress, no stains and in a fun border print.   She wore it once as is but decided it was too little girl for her.  She's 12 now and the style just wasn't grown up enough,  however, she loved the skirt part and the ruffle at the waist.   So I did this to it:

I cut off the bodice about 2" above the waistline all the way around.  Since it was a lined bodice, I was able to turn the top edge in 1/4" and sew it together.  The back buttoned together, so I left the last button at the new waist.  I also slipped elastic into the new waistband on the backside and left the sash.  Then I sewed it a simple cotton slip because that sucker was way too translucent.   (Rectangle 3 inches bigger than hips and 3 inches longer than desired length.  Sew the side seam. Hem it.  Sew a casing at the top for elastic.  Bam.  15 minute slip.)  It wasn't a huge change, but the jumper to skirt change was just what this piece needed to go from little girl to big girl without veering into "trying to hard to be a teenager" territory.  This Sunday she wore it with a white t-shirt and a cropped jean jacket; she was quite stylin'.

Turning a dress into a skirt is a super simple switch.  Most of the time you can retain the existing zipper or closure mechanism and a simple piece of elastic or tightening up the side seams will bring the waist in.  It's a quick change that makes it easy to freshen up an old piece.

(I've turned an old dress into a skirt before with even better results.  Check it out here:  Old dress makeover)