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I bought this dress at Target last summer. I don’t know if my daughter was with me so I was in a hurry or if I just temporarily took leave of my senses, because I bought it without trying it on. 
It’s a beauty, and I love it, but I can’t zip the damn thing up. I get about three inches from the top and the zipper will not budge.
But I still love the fabric, and the volume of the skirt is fun, so I figured I could fix it by just hacking off the bodice and making it into a skirt. 
So that’s what I did. If you have a dress that fits on the bottom but not on the top, you can do the same thing.
All I did was cut the skirt off the dress at the point where I could get it zipped up. Because this was a full skirt and I stink at gathering fabric (I actually tried and pulled so hard on the threads that I broke every. single. one.) I went ahead and put some elastic in the waist to gather the fabric for me. 
I estimated how much elastic I would need, sewed it most of the way in, tried the skirt on, realized I had way too much elastic, trimmed it and sewed it together and then finished my seam.
And I got an adorable skirt I can actually wear in very little time at all. 
Also brewing this week: a denim skirt made out of jeans. The first attempt was not so great, so I’ve got a date with my seam ripper.
Do you ever upcycle clothes? I’d love to hear about it!
