High-Waisted Skirts: Tips & a DIY

POSTED BY Morgan Hungerford, 03 July 2008

I caught myself laughing out loud earlier this month at a Go Fug Yourself post featuring the above photo of Reese Witherspoon. The Fug Girls hilariously pointed out that her skirt wasn't actually high-waisted, rather, "a Regular Skirt You Just Hoisted Up Nearly to Your Pits." In the interest of saving both you and myself from the same fate, here are some ideas for turning regular thrift store finds into on-trend, high-waisted gold:

Drop a size (or two). Regular skirts are made to rest at your hips, but buying several sizes smaller will raise the top comfortably to your natural waist. This is a great trick for fuller or circle skirts, as downsizing will still allow for plenty of breathing room.

Darting. If you prefer a sleeker high-waisted look, try a pencil skirt in a size larger than you'd normally wear and add darts around the waistline to make things look purposeful. Sewing.org has a quick overview if you're unfamiliar with darting, and if you're not so handy with the sewing machine then a waist-cinching belt will absolutely serve the same purpose.

Go long! My own closet is slowly filling up with long, "80s mom" skirts from summer thrifting adventures, and here's a quick tip for creating not only a high-waist but a really fresh shape:

Belt the skirt at your natural waist. Take hold of the bottom of one side of the front of the skirt, and twist the fabric up and under the same side of the front of your belt.

Wrap the end of the twisted fabric flatly around the belt once to secure it, then use a safety pin to close the bottom of the skirt at your knee (to prevent scandal, of course).

If you like, you can also pin around the other side and back of the skirt to keep the shape more bubbly than sari-like. You can always go back later and permanently stitch the bottom in place, but I prefer to pin - you never know if you'll one day need to mine all that fabric for some unforeseeable DIY project!

Do you have any tips for turning thrift store skirts into something fresh? Feel free to share, as always, in the comments section below...