Why, why, why do I ever shop for clothes online? Stuff too often turns out to be too big or too small or weird-smelling or way less effortless on me than it looked on the model. In this case, I fell in love with this H&M maxi dress when I saw it on some famous chick online. And since we don't have an H&M in Nashville, I ordered it on eBay. From a guy. In Asia. Who is now terribly upset with me because I left him a "neutral" review saying his sizing is off. Anyway ...
It was about three sizes too small. Like, not even a two-week juice fast was ever going to make me fit into this dress. It hung, forlorn, on a hook in my bedroom for a couple of weeks, and I waited too long to return it.
So last night I made it into a skirt, taking inspiration from Style Pantry, which is often converting old dresses into long skirts. The chiffon of my dress was ultra-sheer and came with a polyester lining. After bravely hacking off the top part of the dress, I added two separate elastic waistbands -- one to the chiffon material and one to the polyester lining -- since the chiffon was way more voluminous than the polyester. Then I connected the two waistbands together with a few stitches all around. I also sewed what was once the halter neck as a tie onto the waist.
I'm still bummed about not getting to wear the dress, but the skirt is a close second and so comfortable and breezy, and I have lots of ideas about how to wear it.
I also wore this necklace today, which I made months and months ago when I was having my dalliance with doily necklaces. For some reason I never wore it 'til now, but I think it really tied this DIY outfit together.
