Dressember 2024- Pants to Pinafore

 Hello Readers.  Hello Readers. It is Dressember 2024. I am wearing and refashioning dresses all month to participate in this fund raiser. This organization works to help the victims of human trafficking. Currently there are an estimated 27 million victims around the world. Most of these victims are women and girls. That is why we wear dresses all month, to raise awareness of this issue. I will be wearing and refashioning dresses all month. Visit their website to learn more about the work they do.

Before and after.  

I took the seams all apart so that I could use the fabric. I used a seam ripper and these tiny scissors to take the pants apart. I separated the lining, the pant legs and the waistband.

Here is a look at one of the pant legs opened up. The larger/longer the pants, the larger/longer your new dress could be. I thought I had enough fabric for an open style pinafore dress from these pants. One pant leg will be the front of the dress and one pant leg will be the back. 

This dress will be worn over other clothes. It will be open on the sides. The seams are all straight lines except the neckline. My new dress will be based on the length of this dress.

I used this dress as a pattern to cut out the head opening too. I cut half the head opening in one pant leg and half in the other. I also cut the shoulders at the same angle as the dark dress. Then I cut straight down the pant leg for the sides of my new dress.

 

I ironed all the edges. I turned the fabric under twice on the sides and the hem at the bottom.  

 

I put the front and back together at the shoulders and you can see the head opening here as I sewed the side seams down. I used a straight stitch to sew the sides in place. The head opening is sewn with a serger to keep the opening nice and neat with no fraying. You could use a zigzag stitch around the neckline instead of a serger to keep it from fraying as well.

 

I turned the neckline under once and sewed it down with a straight stitch. The fabric had enough give to do this neatly.

 

I sewed over the edge of the waistband where I removed it from the pants. This is going to be a great belt for my dress. You could also use a belt you already have and skip- this step. I like to use every millimeter of fabric if I can so I wanted to incorporate the waistband into my new dress.

I liked this open dress over a beige sweater and skirt or over jeans. It is very versatile and the color will be so easy to work with. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.