Style Trick: How to make a too-big skirt fit just right and fake the fit

So I bought this Mexx skirt for $7 in a thrift store but wasn’t sure if I’d love it (read: keep it) and want to spend the money tailoring it for another $20 when I might just get rid of it if I don’t love it.

It had a lot of good things going for it:

• Military-style buttons down the front
• DEEP pockets!
• Nice pencil shape

…but it was definitely too big on me as you can see:

So… I just took the belt that came with it, and belted it hard by tying a knot.

I could do this with any belt really, as long as it fits through the loops and my waist. It even creates a nice sort of paperbag waist effect and doesn’t look like I tried to jerryrig something that doesn’t quite fit.

And from afar, it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

The pockets are still useable and the back doesn’t look all scrunched up.

This would only work on these kinds of skirts in my opinion:

• Thin material
• With loops so that belting it doesn’t look like an accident but something intentional
• Using a fabric belt or something that fits your natural waist well and can grip onto the skirt
• Only a size or two larger than your real size
• Shifting the skirt up to your natural (higher) waist, and the smallest part of your body

So, any other tricks for faking a perfect fit in a skirt?