Dressember 2018; Dress 3

Let's look back a past refashion.

Hello Readers. This is the third dress in this series in honor of Dressember, a non-profit organization working to fight human trafficking. Dressember estimates that every 30 seconds someone becomes a slave, 71% are women and girls. We wear dresses all month to represent them.

Today's dress is a vintage find from a clothes swap. This graphic black and white design really caught my eye.

This knit dress fit well but this ruffled collar and these wrist cuffs were way too much for me. I hate things around my neck. I feel like I am being strangled. These seemed like they belonge in a Shakespearean play. "Be gone foul ruffles!"

Look at the cute worm on the tag. I wish he was bigger, he's adorable. And this dress was made in Italy. That had to be good. It seemed to be a vintage dress, I love finding vintage clothing. They are always such unique pieces.

The first thing I did was cut that collar off. There was no way I would wear it with that collar. I thought a V-neck would open the whole dress up a little. I also cut the sleeves to 3/4 length. This print design is so strong, I thought a little less of it might be better.

I cut off some of the length at the bottom and gave it a new hem too. I wanted it to be knee length.

 Here is a look at all the scraps I cut off. I wound up cutting more off the bottom than you see in this picture. But you can get the gist of it.

I liked this dress in the new simpler form. I think the bold fabric is great without big ruffles. The dress is simpler and the fabric gets to be the star.

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

Vintage Gold Sequins

  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. Trafficking and forced labor is a $236 billion business worldwide. Advocates wear dresses or ties all month to raise awareness about this issue.  I will be wearing and refashioning dresses all month. Visit their website to learn more about the work they do.

 Let's talk about vintage clothes. They're fabulous. The end. See you next time. Just kidding. But I really do like vintage clothes. This beautiful dress was waiting for me at a Goodwill store in Pennsylvania. 

 Before and after. 

This little tag is how I knew it was vintage. This little beauty was from Pittsburgh. 

Here is a good example of what can happen with vintage clothes. They can get damaged. They have lived a whole life before they found there way to me. Think of the parties this dress went to. I originally wanted to remove thye skirt and make pants. Then I was going to reattach the pants to the top and I would have a fabulous jumpsuit. That wasn't going to work because there were a few more damaged spots. 

I had to cut off about a foot of fabric. It was time for Plan B. That made the fabric too short for pants but it would be great for a shorter cocktail dress. 

I turned the edge under and made a new hem. 

I used my iron very carefully to press the new hem. Vintage fabrics can be fragile. 

 I shortened and hemmed the lining too. 

 

Look at this fun dress!

 

I liked this beaded jacket with it. I would love to wear it to a fancy holiday party. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

***Year End Update***- I will be going to Studio 54 ASAP!

 

 

 

 

Vintage Dress 3

 Hello Readers. I love vintage clothes and I had a few vintage dress I wanted to update and wear in my everyday life. Dresses are so comfortable in warmer weather. Let's get refashioning!

Before and after.

I liked the colors and design of this dress but it needed some quick changes to make it ready to wear in public.

I cut some of the length off this dress. I used the horizontal stripes as a guide for my cutting. 

 

I used my serger on the hem. This will prevent any fraying. I turned the edge under and sewed it down for a neat hem.
 

I decided to make this dress sleeveless. I cut the sleeves off but left about 1/4 inch of sleeve in place so I could turn it under. I wanted the armholes to look nice and neat. 

I used my serger on the edge so it would not fray and then I turned it under and sewed it down with my sewing machine. 

 

I liked the contrasting designs at the hem and the neckline. I didn't cut all of the contrasting color off I just made this dress into a shorter summer dress. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- This turned into a perfect summer dress.
 

Vintage Dress 2

 Hello Readers. I am trying to get some vintage dresses off my refashion to-do list. This vintage house dress was the softest cotton and I love the colors and design of it. It was a little frumpy though. Let's get to work. 

Before and after.

This dress was cute, cozy and shapeless as heck. 

 

I decided to cut this dress in half so that I would have a separate top to wear with other clothes. I loved this fabric so much I wanted to wear it as much as possible. 

 

I used my serger on the hem of the shirt to keep it from fraying.

 

  I folded it under and itoned the shirt hem. Then I sewed it down with my sewing machine. I like this method for light weight fabrics. It makes a less bulky hem than if I were to fold it under twice and sew the hem. 

 

I made a small hole in the hem of the sleeves and threaded elastic through the casing. The elastic at the ends of the sleeves will make them a little puffy.  I thought puffed sleeves would be fun. 

 

Here is my new shirt. I love the big florals. Let's get to the skirt.

I took the skirt piece and pinned elastic to it to make the waistband. I wasn't sure if I wanted the red elastic to be visible or not. Was it too much??

 

I used a zigzag stitch to attache the elastic to the waist of my new skirt. 

 

I love the red waistband! This is so colorful and fun! My mental health improved my 73% just looking at this. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- This is my favorite project of the year. The colors and floral pattern are so pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.