This refashion started out as a white dust ruffle generously given to me by my dear friend Sally, whom I met volunteering at the Boulder Humane Society Thrift & Gift store. Sally gifted me with 2 identical panels, so I had 232 inches of 19″ wide 100% cotton fabric to work with. The dust ruffle conveniently already had a rod pocket sewn at the top which made me suspect these might be window valances made to coordinate with bed dust ruffles. Whatever they were, they could not have been more perfect for a skirt makeover!

I stared the refashion process by gathering the fabric around me to see how much fullness I wanted in the skirt. I found that doubling my waist measurement gave me just the right amount of gathers and 3/4″ non-roll elastic from my stash fit perfectly through the rod pocket at the top. I snugged the elastic around my waist without stretching it and cut that length to fish through the waistband. A hem wasn’t needed due to the eyelet finishing the lower edge of the material. I unstitched a bit of the rod pocket at the cut ends, lined up the cut edges and sewed a seam, closing the back of the skirt. I fished the elastic through the waistband with a safety pin, tried on the skirt for fit, and marked the elastic where it felt comfortable. Then I zigzagged the elastic together at the marks and stitched down the opened part of the rod pocket. Done – this was a fast refashion!

Then I tried lots of tops on with the skirt, but no matter what top I tried, the skirt looked like a half-slip on me. Not such a quick refashion after all, not done yet – the white had to go! I had some packets of dye in my stash and I’d been wanting to try ombre dyeing, so I looked up the technique on YouTube. Using this video, I mixed up Ocean Blue Dylon dye in a bucket for dip-dyeing. This was an arm work-out for sure! Believe me, raising and lowering your arms to dip fabric in a bucket for 30 minutes straight will give you Michelle Obama arms real quick! It was a lot of effort to go to when you can’t really see the effect: I always wear my tops out instead of tucked in. But here’s a collage of the dust ruffle, the skirt when white, and the whole skirt after dyeing, so you can see the effect. I love ombre, and I plan on making 3 more skirts from the remaining fabric dyed in different colors – after my arms recover!