A Sweater Dress

Hello Readers. It's almost Christmas and my 6 year old is SO EXCITED! I think this is the first year that he has gotten super excited and counted down the days. I really hope you are having a happy holiday season. Let's talk about sweater dresses. They can be soft and cozy but they can also be shapeless and bulky. 

  Before and after.

 

This sweater dress from my daughter was soft and could be warm with some layers. It was thick and kind of shapeless. It wasn't a horrible dress but it wasn't great. It was... fine. We can do better than "fine".

I wanted to cut the dress into a top and a skirt. I tried it on and decided how long I wanted the top to be. I wanted a "standard" length top. (My belly button is my business.) You could make this into a shorter cropped length if that is your style. It's your top, you can decide. The sweater will fray after you cut it. 

 

Be ready to stitch on some ribbon or bias tape to keep that cut edge together. I used this ribbon because it had the same off-white color and it was in my stash of sewing stuff.

This is a look inside. The ribbon is stitched on the edge and it was easy to attach. It hides that cut edge when I am wearing it. The ends will fray a bit in the wash but the ribbon will hide that from view.

 

 I also added an elastic waistband to the bottom piece of the dress. Sewing the elastic to the skirt keeps it from fraying and also keeps the skirt up at my waist. This skirt has more of an A-line shape because it is from the bottom of the dress where it was the biggest.

 

I used a zigzag stitch right at the edge to control the fraying. The zigzag stitch will allow the skirt to give and stretch with the elastic when I put it on. I measured my waist ahead of time so I knew how long the elastic needed to be.

 

The new 2 piece dress has a new shape. It fit my hips better and looser. I am short so this is a better length on me. Win. Win. Win.

The ribbon and elastic waistbands do not really show when I have the outfit on. But I wanted to show you where they were. 

I can also break up the set and wear the top by itself with other clothes. I liked it as a warm layer with for cold days too. 

*December is almost over and that means Dressember's awareness campaign and fundraising drive is almost over too. They work to fight human trafficking and forced labor around the world. They have outreach programs and partners around the world. You can learn more about the work they do at Dressember.org