Dress to Apron to Over-Skirt

 Hello Readers. I have been having loads of fun refashioning this blue dress. I made an apron, a pair of shorts and today I made a fun skirt. 

Before and after. 

I liked the blue apron I made but honestly, I have a blue apron already and I treasure it because a friends mom (<3 Betty Lou) made it for me. So, I decided to keep remaking this dress into something else. 

 

I used my seam ripper to remove the top of my dress. I had to un-do all the stitches across the front of the waistband. 

 

I ended up with an open skirt with the tie around the waist already in place. I sewed that waistband closed where I had opened it. 

 

I wanted to wear the skirt over the shorts I posted about last time.

 

I cut the skirt shorter so that it was just a bit longer than the shorts. And I tied it in front.
 

That means I had to cut and iron and ...

 

Sew a new hem all over again. That's OK. 

 

 I really liked how this skirt turned out. I can wear it over the shorts or just wear the shorts alone. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Dress 1

 Hello Readers. I love vintage clothes. But the choice of scratchy polyester back in the 70's has never made sense to me. I am not a fan. This beautiful blue dress was made of the scratchiest polyester you can imagine.

This dress is not only itchy, it's too tight also. 

I saw this ad from JCPenny. This outfit caught my eye because of the light blue pleated skirt. It's fabulous with the casual shirt and sneakers. Could I make a similar outfit? I bet I could.

I cut the top of the dress off. That was the itchiest and scratchiest part because it was right against my skin. I pulled the zipper all the way down so that I could keep it in my new skirt. 

I pulled out some stitches so I could fold the zipper into my new waistband. 

I folded the waistband down and sewed it in place. This polyester won't ever fray so there isn't anything to worry about when cutting it and making it into something new. 

 

I cut some length off the skirt because it was very long on me. I wanted to try the length a bit longer than the model. I wanted closer to the knee. 

 

I sewed a new hem. The only issue was that I flattened the pleats at the new hemline. I could still see them but they were no longer sharp and crisp. 

 

I used a hair straightener to squeeze the pleats back in place. With the heat coming from both sides of the straightener, the pleats were very nicely finished in no time. 

 

Here is my new outfit. I love the look. The A-line skirt doesn't scratch and itch like the tight dress did. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 ***Year End Update***- These pleats were so fabulous but the polyester is not my favorite. Vintage clothes are wonderful but sadly there can be a lot of polyester.

 

 

 

 
 

 

Separates From a Dress Part 1

 Hello Readers. While I love dresses, I think separates are usually a lot more versatile. I decided to break this dress up into parts that I could wear in more ways and with many more clothes. 

Before and after.

I took the dress apart with a seam ripper. I wanted to separate the top from the skirt. Today we will focus on the skirt. 

This skirt was really full and long on me and I wanted something a bit simpler. 

I used a skirt I liked s a "pattern". I already had a finished hem so when I cut out my new skirt I only needed extra fabric for the side seams and the waistband. 

I used my serger to sew up the side seams. This was easy. 

I made an elastic waistband with this peach colored elastic. I used a zigzag stitch to connect the ends of the elastic to make a circle. I like elastic because I like to be comfortable and if I gain or lose weight the skirt is still going to fit.

I clipped the waistband in place so it was evenly set in the skirt. The blue line is the front center of the elastic so I knew it needed to be in the center front of the skirt. 

I used my serger to attach the elastic to the right side of the skirt. I made sure the elastic was evenly stretched/spaced along the waistband. 

 

When I flip the elastic up it is a visible elastic waistband. I could leave it like this. 

 

If I turn the elastic in one more time, the elastic is hidden inside the skirt. 

 

Then I used my sewing machine to stitch the elastic and fabric down from the outside of the skirt. I pulled the elastic so that the waistband would be smooth as I stitched. 

 

And that is it. My new skirt is finished. The fabric is so pretty, I am glad I hid the elastic so it didn't distract from the floral design. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 ***Year End Update***- This impressionist painting outfit is a favorite but seems best in spring.

 

 

 

 

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.

Dress to Skirt; Using Shirring as a Waistband

 Hello Readers. I sometimes clothes don't fit as they should and that is when we need to get creative to make them work. This dress was one of those situations 

Before and after.

This dress had some super cute shirring at the top. But it was very tight and also very low cut. I wore a shirt under it to cover all the cleavage but it wasn't comfortable like this. It just didn't work for me. It was a nice hand-me-down from a lovely woman. (Thanks T!)  How could I make it fit me and be comfortable.

I cut the top of the dress off. I saved some of the shirring to use as a waistband.

I got some matching thread and threaded my serger. This dress was multicolored so I could have used any of the colors in the skirt fabric. I went with black.

I used my serger to finish that cut edge. I didn't want it to fray. 

The serger has a tail of thread that hangs off the garment when you are done stitching. Some people tie it in a knot and cut off the excess. I like to take the whole tail and use a needle to tuck it under the serger stitches. It holds nicely and looks neat.

 

Then I went back and made the waistband smaller and used gray thread to finish the cut edge. As always, it's nice to customize the fit.
 

I needed a top to go with my new skirt. I grabbed this J.Crew tank from my refashion rack. It would match the gray flowers in the skirt. I didn't like that long fake white layer that hung down from the shirt. 

I decided to cut it off. 

I left about 1/4 - 1/2 an inch of the white layer so I could use my serger on it. The serger stitches will keep it from fraying. This was a lot faster than unpicking all the stitches and removing the white layer. 

 

The little white edge is hidden under the gray shirt anyway. No one but us will ever know it is there. (Shh, don't tell anyone.)

The armholes of this tank were really low. I don't know why they are so low but half my bra would be showing like this. That isn't the look I want so I needed to raise this armhole.

I cut the shoulder straps and made them shorter. This will raise the armholes.

All my important bits will be covered now.

My outfit is ready to go. And where did I go?

I started my day with a walk. These 2 kept me company. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- This was a great outfit for hot days and the skirt was so comfy.