Refashioned Birthday Gifts

I'm copping out on the more serious posts I had planned to give you this quick project I whipped up for one of my Not-Nieces. She turned 3 today! Her favorite colors are green and yellow.
And just a disclaimer before we begin the show and tell. Yes, this is probably a bit too big. Yes, snow and general winter temperatures have arrived. BUT She has tall genes and I intentionally made it big so she can layer it now and wear it this summer.

TaDa! A cute jumper dress.

 This started its life with me as an unfinished skirt. No waistband, zipper, hem. Even the embroidered panels were not finished.

I removed the three un-embroidered panels and sewed up the zipper opening. I folded it where I wanted the center front and center back to lay. After playing around with some pattern pieces I ended up with this:

It took some fiddling since the "front and back" swung out instead of a straight line. I finally just lined it up and winged it. I figured since it was supposed to be looser fitting I wouldn't sweat it.

I added binding to the armholes. Then sewed up the shoulder seams so the seam would be caught when I flipped the binding over and topstitched. I added the neckline binding and flipped it all to the inside. I decided the cleaner looking finish let the embroidery shine.

It was a pretty wide skirt so I stitched a ribbon to the front. Quick Tip: 100% Polyester ribbon will melt and seal the ends to prevent fraying if you hold it to a flame. Be careful not to blacken the edges or burn your fingers. This will work on blends, not as well, and they can actually catch on fire so kids, please don't try this at home.

Isn't the embroidery pretty. I really like the tone on tone effect.

For the "buttons" I took apart an old cufflink. One has more wear than the other but I think it adds character. I hemmed it with a blind hem.

Super cute.

There it is! My super quick refashion! Do you have any great ideas for refashioning skirts?