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Have you ever bought something because you loved the overall vibe or the details, but then you never end up wearing it? Yeah, me either.

Just kidding.

As much as I try to not have this happen, it still does. And then I’m left with 2 options:

  1. Send it back into the secondhand market for someone else to enjoy, or;
  2. Alter it into something I’ll actually wear.

I recently faced this dilemma with a dress that I bought back at the end of 2020. And by recently, I mean I’ve been having this debate with myself for almost as long as I’ve owned the dress.

I really loved how dramatic but simple the dress felt when I first got it. It was made from a high quality poplin cotton, had french cuffs, a dropped waist and maxi length. It was perfect layered over leggings in the winter and the white felt fresh.

The original dress shortly after I received it. The photo is of a small white woman with blonde shoulder length curly hair. She is wearing a maxi length white dress with long sleeves and a dropped waist. She is wearing it with black platform boots.

But, it almost felt like there was too much material. Which made the dress feel too heavy. Which meant that I never reached for it.

Since I did really like the material and the french cuffs (I have vintage cuff links that I bought specifically for the dress), I decided to just go for it and alter it into a matching set.

“Making” the Skirt for the Matching Set

Here’s how I made the skirt:

  1. Since the dress already had a gathered “waist” I cut the dress in half, 2″ above the waist.
  2. I then folded the material over and pinned it in place to make a 1″ pocket and sewed it up, leaving a 2″ opening at the back to feed elastic through.
  3. I cut the amount of 3/4″ elastic that I wanted by wrapping it around my waist and tightening it slightly to where it felt comfortable for the skirt to sit.
  4. Using a small safety pin to guide the elastic, I fed it through the waist pocket that I had created.
  5. Once it was all the way through, I pinned the elastic together as one last measure to test if it was comfortable. Then I sewed the elastic ends together.
  6. I sewed up the 2″ opening at the back.
A fabric tape measure is laid on top of the dress just above the gathered waist. The tape is laid flat on the dress and the 2" mark is pointed to by a pair of fabric shears.
A piece of 3/4" elastic is being fed through a 1" pocket that was sewn to create the waist of the the skirt.
The shirt waistband in it's finished form, laying on a grey/white striped background.

“Making” the Top

As for the top, I didn’t want it to be really cropped, so I decided to make a baby hem:

  1. Using a clothes iron to press it into place as I went along all the way around the bottom of the top, I made a small 1/4″ fold.
  2. Then I folded the fabric over again to enclose the raw edge and ironed it into place.
  3. Finally, I used my sewing machine to make the finished hem.
The bottom hem of the top showing the baby hem and stitching.

Voila, the Matching Set…

I’m really happy with how the 2 pieces turned out. I will admit that I had a lot of self doubt while I was working on it. I was worried that I wouldn’t like the smaller waist or that the top would end up being too short.

But neither of those things ended up being a problem. I did debate cutting off the sleeves as I feel like it’s a set that I’ll wear in the summer mostly, but I decided against it as it would mean that I would lose the french cuffs (and make my cufflinks useless).

I love how the matching set adds more versatility to my wardrobe. The pieces look great together but go with so many of the other items in my capsule wardrobe. I think the top will look particularly good layered over slip dresses!

The matching set is laid out on a grey/white striped background.

Styling the Matching Set

For something completely out of the ordinary, I had a dinner and show to go to on Tuesday evening. I figured that this set could have been an option so I styled it for a night out.

My silver snakeskin boots are the dressiest boots that I own so I decided to go with a white/silver outfit combo. I think the set is still pretty dramatic, so I kept the accessories simple with a small silver handbag (I removed the crossbody strap to use it as a clutch), some silver earrings and my 2-tone watch. I also added a silver lock necklace before leaving.

A flatlay of the matching set on a grey/white background. A small silver clutch, a pair of silver snakeskin boots, a silver watch and a pair of silver earrings are laid on top of the set. A silver cufflink is visible in one of the top's cuffs.
Lara Krude dress, transformed into matching set, J.Crew boots, Coach handbag, Skagen watch.
A small white woman with shoulder length wavy silver hair is wearing the matching set with the silver snakeskin boots. She has her body turned mostly to the camera and is taking a step forward while looking down.
The same woman is turned side on to the camera and looking back over her shoulder. She is holding the silver clutch in her left hand next to her side.

If you’d like to see the movement of the matching set, I put together an Instagram reel to highlight it. You can view it here.

Final Thoughts

I hope this post inspires you to reimagine an item that you haven’t been wearing.

Even if you don’t sew, there are a lot of really great seamstresses out there who can transform garments into something you’ll love to wear. Before I learned to sew, I had a local seamstress that I would go to for alterations.

If you enjoyed this transformation, you might also enjoy some other clothing alterations I’ve done:

Quick & Easy Way to Crop a Top DIY

How to Alter a Tank Top To Make it New and Fresh