Thrift Store + DIY = Lessons Learned

I've always wanted to be one of those people that go thrift store shopping and find great things.  I used to go a lot more when I was younger and I about every other time I went I would find a skirt or shirt or even jeans.  Lately I haven't found much of anything (I know, you are looking at the below picture and thinking, you got that right!), but then I started thinking how much fun it would be to find a piece and then alter it to be something better.  That's when I got the bubble skirt idea. 

Can you turn a boring old DI skirt into a cute bubble skirt?

Typical 90's skirt found in almost all thrift stores.

The answer is yes.  But I'm not going to pretend it was easy.  I sat up one night thinking about how I would do it and it seemed so simple.  All I would need is full skirt with a somewhat pleated waistline, elastic, and my sewing machine.

I found the above at the DI (of course) for $5. There are a few good things about it:

• It's in good condition, no stains, tears, holes or fading
• It has pockets
• It's lined
• It's black, which works with anything

So, after I cut about 5 inches off the skirt, I flipped it all inside out, sewed up the bottom, sewed in a sleeve for the elastic, threaded the elastic, and excitedly turned the skirt right side out again thinking how clever I was only to find out...I had sewn wrong sides together!

So I took out the elastic, took out all the stitches, thought again and was sure I would get it the second time.  I re-pinned, re-sewed, "re-elasticked", and turned my skirt right side out...

I'm not even going to try to explain what happened that time.  Let's just say, I did it wrong...again.

I didn't want to undo all the stitches again, so I cut the lining off from the top off the skirt, turned the skirt the right way and re-sewed the lining on again.  After replacing the ugly white button on the side with a cute black one, this is what I got:

I would definitely do a few things differently next time.  I need to find a fuller skirt, so it bells out more on the sides.  Also, I cut this skirt a tad short, its OK when I'm standing up, but goes up quite a bit when I sit down. Still, I don't think it's half bad for a first try.

I'm determined to do it again and make the next one just right. I would like to find a more colorful or patterned piece for my next try, and hopefully I can get it right without having to re-sew it three times!