A couple years ago I was involved in a group challenge competition called Destination Imagination, or DI.  Basically we chose a challenge to complete and were given a few months to work on it, then we presented our solution at the regional competition.  Our solution involved dressing up like old-time-y soldiers and using a crane made out of PVC pipe to put objects in buckets.  (And did I mention there was a wall between us and the objects?  We had to work out a system to figure out where to put the crane.  It was very complicated.  Oh, and while this was going on we were putting on a play — our objects were actually bombs and we had to place them before the enemy found us out.  Or before we ran out of time and got disqualified.  That, too.)

Anyway.

There weren’t really female soldiers back in the 1800s, and therefore we had no idea what a female soldier in the 1800s would wear.  That is why I ended up in a long-sleeved black t-shirt and a long, gray, button down skirt.

I never wore that skirt again, until a few months back I got the bright idea to chop off the bottom and hem it.  Tada — short skirt.  However, the skirt had a lot of extra fabric I didn’t like.  It kind of poked out and looked weird in the back.

Up until recently I didn’t know how to take things in.  Hurray, now I do!

This skirt had really awesome pockets I wanted to save.  I attempted to detach the pockets from the side seams so I could fold them up while I took the skirt in and then still have them.  This is what happened:

That hole on the right there is (what used to be) the side seam.  The other hole is the one you stick your hand into to get the the pocket.  So that failed.  The pockets were going to have to be sacrificed.

1.  I chalked a line on the inside where I wanted to take the skirt in.  I basically just followed the grain of the fabric without measuring anything.  Before I did anything to it this skirt was meant to hide everything.  Everything.

2.  Sew up the sides on your chalk lines!  Pink off the extra fabric.

Two steps.  That’s all it took.

I love how this turned out.  However, I’m still kind of bummed that the pockets died.  Any suggestions on how I might save them next time?