Converting a Dress into a Skirt — Hack Your Wardrobe!

Trying to dress when your clothes no longer fit is balls.

Hey friends! Hope we’re all doing good? Today I’m going to show off a little hack I realised the other day to make your existing wardrobe work for you after the lockdown weight gain. Clothes not fitting right? I feel ya. I’ve gained a fair bit over lockdown as we’ve talked about before. And it sucks, clearly, because now about 80% of my wardrobe is just a bit too tight on me. Not the greatest feeling when you’ve mostly got a wardrobe of handmade clothes, I’ll tell you that! So we’re converting a dress into a skirt today to hack your wardrobe!

I have a lot of clothing. I really do — from elegant floor-sweeping evening dresses to handmade casual skirts, I have a lot. Two wardrobes, a chest of drawers and a cupboard full, in fact! And I wear a fair amount of it, usually. My size has stayed fairly similar over the last few years, so I was getting a lot of use out of things I’d either made or bought even back in 2014. Until lockdown happened, I became really inactive and gained a bit. I’d mentioned on the blog I was a bit upset about this weight gain, and for the most part I’ve accepted it, and simply realised I needed to get myself moving a little more. The one part of weight gain that’s hard to accept? My clothes don’t bloody fit.

What do you do when nothing fits?

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’ve seen an array of my clothes before, and also know I make a lot of my stuff. You’ll also understand just how many clothes I have. Again — two wardrobes, a chest of drawers and a cupboard’s worth. So it’s fairly gutting that nothing really fits at the moment, and causes me to have what I tell my therapist is a ‘funny moment’. Basically it’s getting into a huff, being annoyed and then getting over it ten minutes later. The Boyfriend® wanted to go to the Hampstead Pergola to take some photos (read on to find out why) and I wanted to dress a little bit fancy. Queue the ‘funny moment’ because nothing fit. What do you do in that moment, really? Answers on a postcard, please.

Converting a Dress into a Skirt!

One thing I did suddenly remember was that dress-to-skirt hack all the pinups were obsessed with a few years back. Miss Victory Violet posted a great blog post on it, which was much easier to follow and link rather than recreate the photos myself. Check it out — stupid easy. And so I followed a five-year-old trend to make my Chrysanthemum Flight dress I made last year more wearable post-lockdown. Frankly I was surprised by not only how easy it was, but also by the fact that it wasn’t uncomfortable at all! As long as it roughly fits your waist, I’m telling you — it’s a worthy hack!

I honestly wish I’d used this wardrobe hack before now — not only is it great post-lockdown, but converting a dress into a skirt means more clothing options! It also helped make a lovely outfit for something pretty spectacular that happened. Remember I mentioned that The Boyfriend® wanted to go to the Hampstead Pergola for a reason?

He only went and bloody proposed, didn’t he?! Yes, friends — I’m engaged! And in true ‘us’ fashion, we used the moment to make hilarious engagement photos! The Pergola in Hampstead is one of my favourite places in London (now bumped up to top favourite, of course!), and Joe wanted to make it a bit more special for us. I absolutely knew it was coming, but it doesn’t take away the amazing feeling it brings me, nor stopped us from having a good old cry!

So now we’re converting dresses to skirts, what other wardrobe hacks do you know?

I’d love to hear some in the comments — especially if they’re all about getting the most out of your clothing! Although any links to 5 Minute Crafts will be met with a sarcastic comment, those things are ridiculous, haha!

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