Thrifty & Chic: Prairie Skirt Refashion

11 Comments

I bought this skirt for $2 my junior year of college at CTR–Community Thrift Relief; a janky old thrift store that occupied an old women’s gymnasium from yesteryear. I loved that place. It’s also where I found this pleated skirt and my husband’s rainbow brite hoodie(it’s really cool, btw). That place was full of all sorts of cheap, cheap gems. Too bad it’s no longer there. *sigh*

In college, I really liked dressing in theme. I would practically show up to class in costume. One day I was a cowgirl, the next I was a lawyer, the next I was a 12 year old girl in galoshes, the next I was a tortured artist. Funny story, my freshman year I vowed to never to show up to school wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The one day I broke my vow, half of the guys and girls in my apartment building wondered what was wrong.

This skirt was what I wore when I dressed up as a pioneer/wrangler girl. I’d show up to class wearing a graphic tee, this skirt & some cowgirl boots. I may have even sported braids. Not sure. Now that my tastes have matured and I’m a responsible mommy, my themed skirt seems a little out of place. So I opted to update! Here’s what I did:

  • Took in the waist by using Susan’s side seam tutorial for jeans. (P.S. Those are my jeans pictured in that tutorial. I LOVE them so much more now that Susan took them in! This tutorial is GENIUS!)
  • CUT OFF THE RUFFLE BOTTOM. Gross.
  • Shortened the skirt by 10 inches.
  • Hemmed the skirt using an adhesive hemming tape.

There you have it! This fix was so simple, yet took me about 3 hours to complete since I had to unpick 9 different seams to take in the waist. This skirt has awesome construction. I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to update this skirt had I not been completely in love with the “V” waist band. Those waistbands are so hot right now.

view or add a comment
  • Categories
    1. Emma says:

      Great transformation. That was a good use of 3 hours.

    2. love the fact that you used to dress up a lot, so did i. Thems can be way more fun then boring tshirts. I need you to teach me how to thrift shop. Ps the new skirt looks very chic and cute.

    3. Jennifer says:

      Amazing! You have such talent… and such patience! It looks fantastic.

    4. I never get tired of your refashions! I wish you lived nearby so I could hire you to refashion my thrifted finds. You have such a good eye for it.

    5. angelina says:

      love the shoes!

    6. Kristina says:

      Haha. My friend Rachel and I made a pact to not wear jeans for all of 10th grade. Only dresses we found at the thrift store. That was back in the 80s. The finds were amazing!!

    7. Megan says:

      That skirt needed a miracle, and you gave it one. lol. It looks really cute! p.s. I love the shoes too. both pairs. :-)

    8. Ann says:

      Wow – 3 hours very well spent! Love this project – it looks fabulous!

    9. Britta says:

      Oh I miss that thrift store! I found a baby sweater there when I was 18 and actually managed to hang on to it for long enough that both my girls wore it. They had a pretty steady selection of awesome/nasty prom dresses too.

      All your thrifting posts just make me miss Utah! You inspired me to get out and try the Salvation Army again, but it was pretty lack-luster. Do you ever go to Decades? That was my fave place in SLC.

    10. linda says:

      Have you been sneaking with out the sidewalk chalk? Again?

    11. I was just going to comment and then looking up I saw that someone named Megan commented what I wanted to say. Exactly. That I love your shoes, both pairs.
      At first I thought I was going crazy and I had already commented but then I realized that I would have included my middle name! Anyways, Love the skirt, Love the shoes, Love the blog.

    mobile site