Black Velvet Dress Altered to a Skirt

I got this very large black velvet dress from a thrift store for $5. Seeing the amount of fabric, I thought I could turn this dress into a skirt to wear to a holiday party. My plan was to do as little as possible because I didn’t want to spend a long time working on it (as I wasn’t going to be wearing it often). So I wanted to avoid putting in a zipper or hemming it.

First, I cut the dress at the waistline. I used some bottom weight fabric to finish the cut edge because I thought turning over the velvet fabric would create too much bulk. My initial thought was to put in an elastic waistband, but I quickly realized that the fabric was just too thick and would bunch unattractively.

So, instead, I decided to wrap the extra fabric in the front using two sets of eyes and hooks. This took longer than I anticipated, and I ended up moving the eyes and hooks a few times so the placement would fit my waist better.

I also sewed a sash using black bottom weight fabric; I thought it would help cover the skirt’s thickness, and act as a belt to help keep the skirt in place (and I thought it looked cute).