Remake
My roommate and I have been reading Marissa's "New Dress a Day" blog, and were both inspired to go thrifting and make over something ugly into something cute! Aubrey got two dresses and made several new items and accessories. I started with just one -- this loud, huge linen dress. Probably about a size 2X - it was swimming on me!
Mostly, I loved the border print of this dress, so I wanted to keep the rest simple. I took off the sleeves and cut down the neckline to a V (much more flattering to my face than the high scoop neck). I chopped off the dress right below the stitching of the pintucks, then cut off a band of that to make a waistband. The bodice I took in at the sides to make it fit me more snugly, then I hemmed the armholes and new neckline, added the waistband, and gathered the remaining skirt to fit it.
After trying it on I realised the waistband was a little too wide and the bodice was baggy, so I added a couple darts in the back to fix that. Then it fit fine!
The only thing I should have done differently was preserve the entire length of the back zipper. I just chopped it off along with the skirt of the dress - which means that my zipper now only goes to the top of the waistband, and this dress is VERY hard to get on and off. Eventually I may replace it with a longer zipper, but I can work with it for now, and I've learned a valuable lesson for the next time I do this! There will be a next time - this was fun :)
Mostly, I loved the border print of this dress, so I wanted to keep the rest simple. I took off the sleeves and cut down the neckline to a V (much more flattering to my face than the high scoop neck). I chopped off the dress right below the stitching of the pintucks, then cut off a band of that to make a waistband. The bodice I took in at the sides to make it fit me more snugly, then I hemmed the armholes and new neckline, added the waistband, and gathered the remaining skirt to fit it.
After trying it on I realised the waistband was a little too wide and the bodice was baggy, so I added a couple darts in the back to fix that. Then it fit fine!
The only thing I should have done differently was preserve the entire length of the back zipper. I just chopped it off along with the skirt of the dress - which means that my zipper now only goes to the top of the waistband, and this dress is VERY hard to get on and off. Eventually I may replace it with a longer zipper, but I can work with it for now, and I've learned a valuable lesson for the next time I do this! There will be a next time - this was fun :)
Wow, Gillian, you did an awesome job with that! It certainly does look cute, and you look gorgeous. I think I'm inspired now... :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Clare! It was a really fun project - sometimes it's fun to work on something that gives almost immediate results :)
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