Franken-Loli?

I have a love affair with Innocent World, a Japanese Lolita fashion brand known for its feminine styling and beautifully designed prints. It's actually more like unrequited love, because I recently learned the hard way I don't fit well into their dresses. Skirts might be fair game, however.

As IW skirts also tend to run $120 and up, it may be awhile before I can get my hands on one. In the meantime, at Target today I saw a black $18 dress with a drape and floral border print that I loved and reminded me of IW (not the dress shape, just the print).

I figured if I could convert the dress to a full skirt, this is my chance to have Innocent World Lite (Semi-Innocent World? Vaguely Guilty World?). So I bought two in the biggest sizes they had, for a total of $36. The total cost will probably be $40 by the time I add a zipper and waistband interfacing. The plan is to chop the tops off the dresses, take out the side seams, and create a new skirt from the two originals. I'm a M and the biggest one is XXL, so I'm going to use the dress portion from that to make my waistband.

I'll report back on how well it worked out once I finish. I'm at 5'7" and the dress hangs right at the top of my knee, so with some luck at the end of this I'll have a pretty and versatile skirt that I could wear normally or toss a petticoat under for a Lolita look!