An alteration - shortening a RTW pleated skirt

A simple project, but I love to share what I'm up to :) I had bought a lovely satin pleated skirt from Zara in my favourite colour maroon. It fitted well, but was a little on the long side and so I did a simple alteration to shorten the length.

The skirt was actually intended to be worn with the waistband folded to the inside as there was some stitching at the side to keep the waistband folded this way. I undid this stitching as it looked much nicer with the waistband on show. It helped highlight the waist as well as giving it a nicer shape.

I measured how much I wanted to shorten it by, which was 8 cm. The original skirt had a rolled hem, which I knew my overlocker would make light work of. I shortened it by 7.5 cm to allow a little for the hem. I started to mark this cutting line with a pen, but I soon realised this could take a while with the length of the hem. I decided to stitch a line instead and used white thread on the longest stitch my machine could do (5 mm), using washi tape as a guide.

I had to be careful not to stretch the fabric as it was cut on the bias. I cut along this line and did a few bits of tidying up to ensure it was fairly straight all the way round.

I then did a rolled hem on the overlocker which gave a lovely finish, just like the original. I pressed any pleats that had flattened out at the hem and it was good to go.