Pinafore To Skirt Alteration

Getting the best out of an iffy piece of clothing.

Posted by Kyrna

About

I am in a musical ensemble called "Stage to Screen" this semester (pieces from 5 musicals that have been turned into movies) and we all have to have a basic black outfit. The requirements for the ladies are a full black skirt and a black blouse. I didn't have a ton of money, so I went to a thrift store, where I found things that might work but which needed some changes.
While poking through the thrift store, I found this apron/jumper/pinafore thing which looked slightly frumpy as it was, but which had a nice full black skirt. I got it for $2, and this is what I did to make it work for my outfit.

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You Will Need (3 things)

  • Thread
  • Seam Ripper
  • Elastic to fit your waist size

Steps (5 steps, 45 minutes)

  1. 1

    This is what I started out with.

  2. 2

    First I separated the top and bottom parts of the pinafore, and disassembled the top piece as seen here. I'm almost incapable of throwing things out, and figured that I could probably use the lace, embroidery, and other bits for other projects.

  3. 3

    This is what the skirt piece looked like. As seen in the first picture, it had pink bias tape over the ruffle seam, so I took that off so I could have just a plain black skirt.

  4. 4

    Then all I had left to do was to finish off the skirt to make it wearable. I tucked in the seam allowance over the ruffle and sewed it into the inside. Then I made a casing at the top and put in an elastic waistband.

  5. 5

    That's it.
    This is a picture of the finished outfit (I'll list the blouse as a separate project). The skirt is very comfy and full, great for dancing in the show.