Lilly and the Pink Dress

Hello Readers. This post is all thanks to Lilly Pulitzer. That is the maker of these wild colorful pants I got at a clothes swap. I thought they were amazing.

 I had to fix the size of these pants a bit and I really needed a top to go with them. I didn't have anything in that lime green. (I don't know if I want a shirt in that color.) That coral pink was a great shade though, and I already had something I could use. This pink J.Crew dress has been sitting on the refashion rack for a couple years waiting for me to do something with it.

I tried to refashion this "Pink Ink Dress" back in 2017 but it didn't work out as I had planned. It had a spot on the front that was bleached and then "covered" with pink ink marks. It looked awful but now I was going to make it into a shirt.

I cut the skirt off the dress. I made a narrow casing and put elastic through it. I had some kind of strapless shirt. I thought I could make some kind of sleeves or straps from the top of the dress. I would work around the damaged spot and make a new shirt.

  

I cut the top into pieces and tried a couple of ideas that didn't work at all. I found that the elastic waistband was getting brittle and the neck was really warped. They were useless. I was thinking I would just wear a white t-shirt with these crazy pants and give up on this pink idea. Maybe this dress was cursed because nothing worked when I tried to refashion it 2 years ago either! 

After an emotional melt-down, I had the 2 pieces you see outlined in gray.

I finished the edges and I had 2 long narrow pieces of fabric. They were angled because they were from the shoulders of the dress. I didn't have anymore fabric so these had to work or I would have to give up.

I connected the ends to make 2 circles and added elastic that I cut off a fitted sheet. Yes, a sheet from a bed.

  

I connected these 2 little circles of fabric to the shirt to make some off-the-shoulder sleeves. You can see the pile of pink scraps left from the dress.

The Lilly Pulitzer pants were an easy fix after fighting with that pink dress. I made new side seams on each side of the pants. I made them more fitted and they were the right length already. The only downside to these pants is that they have no stretch. I like a little stretch for comfort but I made them roomy enough to make sure I could sit and eat lunch and still breathe.

 I like wild colorful clothes so these really appealed to me. They seemed bright and cheerful. And I was happy I made something wearable from that cursed pink dress.

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

***Year End update-  These crazy wild pants are so much fun to me. They can be dressed down and worn anywhere. The top was more of a special occasion top, not really a run to Walmart top. I have not won it as much.