Skirt Refashion: retiring the owls to everyday wear

I love this skirt, but the fabric is starting to fade and I suddenly feel like wearing other things to work. What to do? Why, make it into something else of course! This is a refashion from work wear to everyday wear.

I want to remove the zip from the back:

Because I'm going to do that, I'll need to shorten the skirt so that it has a wider waist otherwise I won't be able to get it on over my shoulders or my hips. I also want to put elastic in to make it easier to pull on for everyday wear. 

I think this is about where I'll cut:

First step: get out the ripper and take the waistband off and remove the zip.

I wanted to separate the waistband from the fabric so that I could use it on something else. Then I chopped the top section off.

When I went to cut the bottom off I remembered that I had made it high-low at one point, so the bottom is uneven.

It means that I cut a decent amount off to make a straight bottom. The owls still look holographic!

That leaves the space from the front of the skirt to patch.

I happened to use a scrap of the fabric that I had made a pocket from, too. A quick straight stitch sew on. I found the elastic that I wanted for the waistband (after searching 2 boxes I realised that it was on my desk).

Once that was sewn on I hemmed the bottom and started to think about the top. Slight issue: I had cut too much off and now the pocket was in the way! I had to unpick some of it and fold it down so that I could actually sewn the waistband.

But I did it and popped the skirt on the mannikin to pin the waistband and check the length. I had to make the waistband wide enough to be able to thread the elastic through.

It's much shorter now!

It only took a couple of minutes to get the elastic threaded through, using a big safety pin to guide it. I always pin both ends in place so I don't lose them - very annoying to have to try and dig them out! 

A final, 5cm quick-sew to close the waistband and the new skirt was done! 

#lovelypennypatterns