Over-alls to Fun Dress

  Hello Readers. It is Dressember 2024 this month. I am wearing and refashioning dresses all month to participate in the fund raiser. This organization works to help the victims of human trafficking and forced labor. Currently there are an estimated 27million 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 talking about this issue all month to advocate for this cause. Visit their website to learn more about how you can fight human trafficking and forced labor where you are.

It is almost Christmas, let's make a fun Christmas dress.

Before and after.

These over-alls are a bit big but they are soft and Christmas themed. I loved them. I decided to make them into a casual dress.

I cut some length off the legs to get it out of the way. I saved those scrap pieces for later. I will show you what I made with them tomorrow.

I cut the center seam out to open up the pants. 

I turned the over-alls on their sides. 

I cut the pant legs into a skirt shape in the front and back. 

I stitched those new seams together. 

 

 I hemmed the bottom of the skirt as well.

I made a small opening on the inside so I could make the elastic waistband smaller. 

I pulled the elastic waistband out and cut off about 3 inches. 

I sewed the elastic ends together. I tucked it back into the opening. 

I sewed the opening closed to keep it all together. 

 

My new fun Christmas dress is ready to wear. It's perfect for this time of year. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

When You Can't Button Your Over-Alls

 Hello Readers. How are you? I hope you are well and not lost in an argument with someone online. It won't change anyone's opinion. It will just make you angry. My neighborhood HOA Facebook page is a breeding ground for arguments like this. It is surprising to me how fast an argument can break out. Let's not argue today, let's just sew in peace. 

These wonderful gray linen wide-leg overalls were a hand-me-down from my daughter. I liked them a lot.

I thought they would fit perfectly but as you can see, I could not button them up. I was not very happy. I noticed that the waist seemed to fit very well. That gave me an idea...

 

 

I quickly cut the top off. It was too small and made me feel fat. It had to go. 

 

 I used a zigzag stitch on that cut edge. This linen fabric would fray like crazy so I wanted to prevent that. I went over the edge twice to make sure it was secure. I turned the edge under and made a wide waistband. There were already buttons in the front that would act as a button-fly.

 

I used my dress form to tweak the waist and make sure they would fit.

These pants are so comfortable and fun to wear. I like how they turned out. They were cropped on my tall daughter but on short me they don't seem cropped at all. I am still thinking about the length I want. Any thoughts dear reader? Should I hem them a bit shorter? I think I like them as is but I am not sure. am not sure.  Let me know in the comments.

 I am trying to show the legs and the waistband without showing my actual pale stretch-marked stomach. 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

Skirt to Over-Alls

Hello Readers. I almost gave this plain black skirt away because it was too long and too boring! It was a nice weight knit fabric so I kept it in hopes I would think of something more fun to do with it. And I just got an idea!

There wasn't anything wrong with the skirt. It just wasn't very exciting. And it was clearly too long for me.

I decided to make a straight skirt from the top of this black skirt.  That way I could keep the waistband. That would save me loads of time. I took a little off each side and gave it a new hem. The original skirt flared out at the bottom. I determined the length of my new skirt by cutting it off above that.

I used that fabric at the bottom though. I cut 2 squares from the center of that extra fabric.

I used the squares to make the front and back "bibs". I used some more of the extra fabric to make the shoulder straps I needed. 

I had the buttons in the button stash. I chose black to keep it simple. I didn't want to worry if the buttons clashed with my shirt. With these plain buttons I can wear any shirt.

Even a wild purple floral shirt.

The back looks a lot like the front. The bib is just a little smaller.

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End update-  I love black skirts. Can you have too many? I will never believe that's true.

An Over-All Disaster

Hello Readers. Prepare yourself for a sad, messy, failure of a refashion. Things don't always go as planned in sewing. That's life, right?

This dress had a lot of potential. I had an idea in my head for short over-alls. (Shorter-alls?) The top was already the right shape and the zipper would be perfect for getting the over-alls on and off. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

I started by cutting the top off,  just under the zipper. I planned to turn the skirt into shorts and then reconnect them. It seemed easy and I thought it would all go well. It did not all go well.

It is hard to believe but I used a pattern to cut these shorts out. As soon as I cut them I realized they were too small. I folded the pattern wrong and cut out super small shorts. I thought I could fix the shorts so I didn't panic yet.

I guess you could say I "fixed" the shorts by adding the cute yellow floral fabric at the sides. Unfortunately, the shorts were still too tight. I hated the yellow fabric, and it wasn't cute at all.

 I hate these over-alls. I will never wear them. This was a total failure.

I decided to save the top, maybe I can use it in the future. The shorts are beyond saving. That's it for now folks.

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 *Year end update-This was the worst of the worst. It's just awful. I can't even look at it.