craftgrrl | pillowcase skirt gone wrong

Welp, last night I proved to myself that I can take any project that is deemed very, very easy and turn it into a complicated mess. I speak of the pillowcase skirt. You've heard about it. A 1-hour (if that) project that results in a cute little skirt that you can just slip into and go skipping away...

yeah, right.

I followed the directions I found online (at GetCrafty) and ended up with a skirt that was too long and took waaaay too much tightening of the drawstring to not fall down on me. And I'm a thick-waisted gal.

So in a fit of overconfidence I took it upon myself to try narrowing the waist. Now I have a skirt that is far too tight, except replace "far too tight" with "impossible to put on", and I've already cut the extra fabric off and I'm not at all experienced with sewing and I'm very unhappy because I just want to make a skirt and show my Benny that I made something pretty to wear and whaaa.

So I beg of you truly crafty girls, please help a struggling wannabe craftgrrl learn how to make a simple skirt! And please keep in mind that you are talking to someone who is apparently learning-impaired when it comes to things like this.

Thanks...