Denim Dress to Jacket

 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. The focus is on rescue and restoration of victims but also prevention programs to those at-risk. $15 can pay for an online counseling session for a victim to begin healing. Please check their website for more information about all the work they do.

I love anything made of denim so let's look at this simple denim dress. 

Before and after. 

 

This is a basic pull-over style shirt dress. There wasn't anything wrong with it but I wanted an open long jacket.
 

I cut the dress open down the front. I made sure to cut right down the center. That would open the dress and I could make a long jacket.

 

This ribbon was part of the next step.
 

I sewed blue grosgrain ribbon to the cut edges. This would help stabilize the fabric a bit. 

 

I turned the ribbon in and...

 

 In again.  I stitched it down again. That would make the cut edges look nicely finished. 

 

My new jacket is nice over a dress. Or even other jeans. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- I have thrown this over several outfits already. Love!

 

 

 

 

80's Denim Dress for Dressember

  Hello Readers. I am participating in the Dressember fundraiser  again this year. Dressember works to fight human trafficking and assist victims. It was started in 2005 by Blythe Hill. It grew from just her wearing dresses every day for the month of December to raise money. It grew and grew and in 2021 they raised 16MM. Go to Dressember's website to see my team with my daughter and learn more about the work Dressember does.

I found this dated denim home school mom dress at a clothes swap and I knew I could use all that denim for something fun. It was floor length on me and I did not get a proper before picture of it. I was SO excited to refashion it I just jumped right in.

Before and after.

I cut almost 20 inches of length from the bottom of this dress. I knew it was too long so I just got some extra out of my way. 

I put it on my dress form to get an idea of how much I wanted to take in the sides. This was too fitted because this denim had no stretch and it wouldn't get off the dress form.

In the end I took a couple inches off each side. 

I used my serger to sew those new side seams but you can use a zigzag stitch for this too. 

Now this is the fabric I cut off the bottom of the dress. I knew I wanted to add a ruffle and this is what I had to make that ruffle with. I had to make it a ruffle somehow. This dress had slits on each side. That was going to be my ruffle. I hope the pointy corners will an interesting feature. 

I clipped my ruffle in place so I could make sure it was spread out evenly. You can see the pointy corners. I think they will add a fun touch.

Preview of the ruffle. I took this and headed to the serger. 

I had to hold the gathered fabric as I sewed. I had to do this to make sure the gathered fabric stayed gathered as it went through the machine. 

I went over my new seams and the ruffle with an iron. 

That was it. My new dress is fun and comfortable to. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- I love this dress it is loose and good for winter layers. It will match everything and anything.

Travel Refashions #7

  Hello Readers. I am going on a trip to England and I decided to coordinate my travel wardrobe. I am packing all new refashion projects and I will be posting about my journey and my outfit of the day along the way. This post is about a simple denim dress.

Before and after.

I call this a homeschool mom special. (If you know, you know.) This dress is a remnant from the 90's but we can update it easily.

There was a tie to pull the waist in but it fit me just the way it was. I couldn't pull it in at all. 

 

I cut off about 8 inches from the skirt and hemmed the dress at the new shorter length. 

 

This new shorter length will be more flattering for someone who is quite petite like me. It's also more fun and modern. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

***Follow up review***

My trip was so much fun.- This dress was so simple but it really worked hard on this trip. It was great by itself but it also was a nice light jacket in cool mornings.

***Year End Update- This is the most versatile and useful item I have. I wore it as a jacket and a dress all year.

 

Blue Denim Shirts

Hello Readers. I decided to spend the rest of the month on blue refashion and upcycle projects. 2022 has been rough all around so I am just going to be blue this month. I had a couple of denim dresses that were handed down to me from my daughter. The thing is, I had a denim dress. I really needed a denim shirt. I love patterned and brightly colored clothes and a denim shirt goes with all the wild clothes I found at swaps and thrift stores. 

 

Before and after. 

 

This dress wasn't very flattering on me and I didn't mind turning it into something else. Let's get sewing.

I cut it into a shirt that was long enough to tuck in. But then I changed my mind and...

I cut it into a shorter cropped length. It had buttons and I thought it would be great open or closed. #versatility 

I decided to add a little decorative stitch at the hem just for fun. 

My sewing machine was made in 1943 and it came with these disks that you add onto the machine. The designs are shown on the disc. 

I put the disc on the machine and screwed a solver cover on it. 

It looked like this while it was stitching away. 

I liked this shirt and all its options. It could be a buttoned up shirt or an open little jacket.

I also had this second dress. It was a little darker in color and the buttons in the front of it were fake.

This dress got a big cut and a simple new hem. I needed a basic denim shirt that could match any wild pattern I wanted to wear.

I knew I wanted this shirt to go with these shorts. 

I knew I wanted to tuck it in.

 

And I was ready to to go with my wild patterned shorts. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- I didn't realize how much I needed denim shirts until I made these and wore them with everything! They were both great for me.