A Dress Cut in Half for Dressember

 Hello Readers. It is December and it is the month of the Dressember fundraiser. It is such a busy time of year and participating in Dressember might seem like too much. This month I am wearing and refashioning dresses to raise awareness about the work they do. Is it hard to wear dresses all month? It was not possible to wear dresses at my old job so I wore a lot of ties. (That counts too.) If you can't or don't wear dresses, you can wear ties. Buy a tie from a thrift store or borrow from someone you know. It's easy. If you wear a uniform at work, it's OK, you can participate in your off hours. Head over to Dressember's website to learn more. 

I found this beautiful floral dress at a thrift store and bought it without much thought. It was way too long on me (I'm 5'0") but luckily I have a tall daughter. (She's 5'8") Usually we can swap clothes.

Before and after.

I saw this floral fabric and couldn't resist. I bought it. The dress didn't really fit my daughter or me. That's OK. There is always a way to make things work. 

My daughter cut the skirt off. She really liked it because it was a long length on her. Skirts tend to be too short on her so she was happy. 

She knows I don't throw away sewing or fabric scraps so she gave this top back to me. I used my serger around the bottom of it. 

I turned that serged edge under and then added elastic around the bottom. 

The elastic pulled the hem in and it looked more finished. Basically I made a cropped top. It looked great with this skirt. This would be a lot of visible stomach for me. (I'm 51 and I have had 3 kids. My stomach is not for public viewing.) 

Same top and skirt with a sweater on top...This would work better for me. 

It worked really well with high waisted over-alls like this. I will save this outfit for January when the Dressember fundraiser is over and I can wear pants again. The dress was cut up but it's not thrown away. It has a new look, a new use and a new life. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- I always feel good when I can save scrap pieces. I love this combo too.