Converting a Dress to a Skirt

I ducked into a resale shop recently to check out what they had.  I spotted a $300+ Versace suit, lovely, but out of my price range.   I also found a beautiful Eileen Fisher skirt, but the silk fabric had a large marred spot on the back.  I also found a great strapless sundress from Old Navy.  I was surprised it was Old Navy, since I rarely buy anything from them but T-shirts.  The fabric was lovely, but it was way too short for my less than perfect 50 year old legs, ten years ago....But that is another story.  Okay on with the story, I bought the dress for $8, what a bargain!  I took it home and decided to cut off the top and make it into a high waisted skirt.  As an inspiration, I used a great vintage Vogue pattern 2155, a Calvin Klein pattern from the 1980's that has patterns for a flared skirt with pleats and a high waisted straight skirt.

I tried the skirt on and marked where I wanted the top of the waist line to be.  I then unzipped it, cut off the top of the dress, and I trimmed the top saving it to be used as a facing for the raised waist.  I stitched the facing to enclose the raw edge which would be the bottom of edge of the skirt facing.

I then interfaced the facing.  I stitched the top of zipper so that when I zipped the skirt up the zipper tab would not come off, since I had shortened the zipper when I cut off the top of the dress.  Next, I  attached the facing to the skirt, taking care with the zipper at the top.

I pressed the facing over to the inside of the skirt, topstitched it into place, and then tacked it down at the seams.  Now, my $8 skirt was complete.  I really love it.  I think I will try this strategy again.  How else can you get a lovely fitted skirt in less than 2 hours for $8?