I had a halter dress that I loved and wore a lot – a few years ago. The rule in my closet is that no matter how much I love it, if I’m not wearing it then it gets moved to the refashion closet.

I had an idea I wanted to try out and this dress ...

+ this t-shirt would be the perfect pieces for this experiment.

The first step is to remove the bodice from the skirt.

Bye-bye dress, hello skirt and new top.

I removed the cute little applique from the t-shirt. I’m not that into appliques, but this one has potential for a future refashion.

Whada ya' think? Pretty cute, right?

Then I cut across the t-shirt right under the arm cycles to get a tube which will become the waistband/bodice of my new skirt/strapless dress. All I had to do was sew the tube to the skirt. Since the t-shirt was too large, I had more fabric than I needed to make this a secure waistband. So I sewed up the length of the tube, allowing the excess fabric to cascade into a ruffle. When the waistband is folded down the ruffle is hidden, and when the waistband is extended the ruffle is a nice detail.

Here's the waistband folded down to make this a skirt.

And here is the waistband extended to make a strapless dress.

And here's another look, with the ruffle in the front.

Gotta love a two-fer!