Party dress to flapper skirt

It's no secret that I love vintage styling. That little red number a few posts back probably gave it away. So when I saw this lacy black dress in my local charity shop I snapped it up.

Not particularly flattering at this point

I was thinking it was a bit 80s prom dress, and that with a bit of taking in around the waist I could make it look good with minimal effort. However, once I tried it on I noticed how short it actually was underneath that gauzy layer. Now, I have nothing against short skirts, I just don't like them on me. I don't have a problem with my legs, I'm just always a bit conscious that my (probably very embarrassing) underwear might be on show. I'd rather be comfortable in what I'm wearing. You can't see it very well from this photo but the dress was also a bit transparent, especially around the bodice. Not good. I liked the floatiness of the skirt a lot, so I decided to keep that and turn it into something I'd actually wear.

First step: get rid of the weird applique thing on the bust. It looked as though it had been snipped off a big roll, and they had just cut it straight across and stick a load of beads on it. Odd.

Goodbye sad lacy thing, until next time

Next, I pinned the outer layer to the lining in order to avoid any unfortunate chopping disasters and marked up where I wanted to cut it (I'd obviously measured it beforehand - I just undid the side zip and slid the whole thing down until it was the length I wanted it). At this point I noticed that the side zip was completely in the way of my cut, so I unpicked it from the seam.

Don't worry, I'll use zippy again someday

My chalk really didnt like this fabric...

Once it was all marked up (not forgetting seam allowance) I let loose the scissors.

I feel as though there should be a magician involved.

Next I stitched up that side seam where I'd removed the zip, turned over the top a couple of times and ran a line of zigzag stitching around the waistline - the fabric has a little bit of stretch which I didn't want to lose by using a straight stitch. Having taken the zip out I had to be sure not to make it too tight, otherwise I'd never get it over my hips/head.

The end result is really nice. It feels quite 20s with the floaty panels in the skirt, and the length is just below the knee. I teamed it with a loose sailor blouse and a chanel-style cardigan, along with some T-bar shoes.

Miss Fisher eat your heart out!

I need to sort out the lighting in my kitchen for taking photos, but you get the jist. The sad party dress is now living a fun second life as a jazz-age style floaty skirt which is far too long to show off my pants to anyone! Whoop!