Girl Dresses out of a Woman's Skirt

When we were preparing for a family wedding in July, I was doing a lot of sewing for my girls, and came across this pretty rayon-wool one-button-on-the-pocket gathered skirt in a thrift store. I decided to cut it into a skirt for my youngest girl. I cut the gathered waistband off the skirt at the correct length for a little-girl skirt but wasn't sure what to do with the beautifully-patterned bottom of the skirt, so I put it aside.

Next I had to cut the gathered waistband to the correct width for my toddler girl's tummy. I decided to cut it off at the pocket so that she could have a pocket in her skirt. (Note: I wouldn't do this again: the pocket's really too large for her to really use!) When I was finished, I had one width of skirt about 8" across. Not sure what to do with it, I decided to fold it in half to see if I could make a bodice for a dress. Here it is below. Notice that the gathered top is so much more narrow than the full bottom. (Click on any photo to see the details.)

So, taking a gamble, I decided to see if having a narrow front piece and a wide back could make a succesful bodice. I narrowly hemed the sides of the skirt piece and joined them together at the bottom, leaving ample armholes. Then I carefully cut and hemmed a neckline with a keyhole snap closure at the back. It seemed to fit my daughter, so I reattached the lower part of the original skirt to make the bottom of the dress. It worked like a charm.

Though my original project of a toddler skirt: wasn't as successful (the toddler is wearing it in the boat picture in the post below: click on the photo to see it up close), the toddler dress was a dream! Another thrilling episode in the ongoing adventure of converting adult clothing to child-size wearables!