Dressember 2018; Dress 4

Hello Readers. This is the fourth dress refashion this month in honor of Dressember. This organization was created by Blythe Hill to fight human trafficking. She worked in the fashion industry, but wanted to do something more about this global issue. You can learn more about her and Dressember's mission here.

I found this very plain and simple dress at a clothes swap and didn't think it was very exciting. I did like how it felt though, it was a soft and thick knit material. It felt like a cushy cloud. I am all about being cozy so I took it home. It was a bit big and shapeless but I could fix that.

I liked the V in the back and that seam down the middle of the back gave me a perfect place to take the dress in a little. It had a little pleat in the back that I didn't really need. That pleat made the dress more round and full than I really wanted.

I did some quick sewing to make it a little less baggy. I removed some fabric from the back, about 5 inches. I also made the sleeves a little more narrow. The shape of the dress is basically the same, I didn't change that much about it.

 But it looks so much better because it fits so much better.  Adding a belt didn't hurt either.

 

*Note-I added a photo of the back as requested by a reader. 


This refashion was so fast that I had time for something else...

*****     SHRINKING A PURSE    *****

I had a big purse. A really big purse. It was just too long for me. Big bags are great but this was a little too big. It was difficult to find things at the bottom of it too.

I liked that it had a long strap so the bag could be worn cross-body, but did it need to be this long? Who is this tall???

I started cutting it up. I am not experienced in sewing leather or faux leather. I decided to experiment with this bag and see what I could do. I cut off the straps and trim at the top. Next, I cut out as much of the purse as I could without damaging the front pocket.

When I cut the bag apart I realized the lining was worn. I made a new lining from some scrap fabric. I fit the lining and the bag itself back into the top trim piece again. It was difficult to hold it all together and I couldn't pin it. I used a leather needle to stitch through the layers of faux leather. Could my machine handle all this? It worked out but it wasn't my neatest sewing.

 My new lining didn't have any little pockets to hold my lip balm. I wanted to make a couple little pockets. I decided to used the back pockets of these tiny pants. My son outgrew these, so I was free to cut them up. I attached them inside the bag to the lining.

Using these two little corduroy pockets saved me time because I didn't have to make them myself. They were just the right size.

 This is the view of the inside of my new bag. It is very hard to take a good picture of the inside of a bag.)

 Here is my new smaller bag. It suits me better at this length, and it is easier to find all my stuff, and junk, and my kid's stuff, and my kid's junk.

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