The Strange Sweater Dress

Hello Readers. I said in the title that this sweater dress was strange, I wasn't kidding. It was a weird one. Read on, I will tell you all about it.

OK, y'all. What is this? I found this sweater dress at some clothes swap, I think. When I tried it on I could see why someone gave it away. It was super tight but also super low cut. I wore that pink shirt to keep myself covered in this photo. The dress came with all these "extra" white fabric pieces and ruffles. They took the time to add the white fabric at the chest, but it was still VERY low cut. The arm and hem ruffles were not working for me either. They felt like wings, very strange wings.

If I was 6" tall and 75 lbs, this dress might fit.

I knew I needed to fill in the deep V-neck with something. I had this pretty green blouse with a ripped sleeve. I really liked the lace front. I thought I could use that.

I removed all the white fabric with my seam ripper. Next I put the green blouse under the dress but the dress was still too tight. I don't like baggy clothes but this was going to be way too tight to wear in public. If this dress wasn't stretchy I couldn't have gotten into it.

I cut the dress down the middle to open it up. I wasn't sure what I was doing at this point. (I often do not know what I am doing, but let's focus on the sewing.)

That deep V opened up the dress really well, but then I didn't know what to do with the cut open lower half of the dress. I just cut it off. Now I had a super short shirt. It was bigger, but I don't show my mommy tummy, so a cropped top wasn't really what I wanted.

I had this wide knit waistband in my scrap pile and I thought it would cover the raw cut edge and make the shirt at least 3 inches longer. I added the waistband with my machine.

*Save your fabric scraps, they come in handy.

I ended up with a light sweater top that was perfect for something high-waisted.

Like this skirt that I already owned! It looked like a dress when I put them together. I love dresses so I was happy with this one.

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- This strange dress became a favorite top.