May 21, 2011

Restyle | Skirt to Dress

When I first laid eyes on this skirt,
I knew I was going to turn it into a dress.
The colors just popped,
the print was lovely and it was silk.
And it was a size 10... way to big for me..
 

Ok, here we go...


But first wanted to gush that my "tutorial" has been linked by another blogger ♥ ♥ ♥
 
http://www.roued.com/the-best-dress-refashion-tutorials/


And now back to the tutorial :)

I started out by taking the skirt apart...

Starting with the lining....
Just in case I screwed up...
I drew out how I wanted my neck opening to look.

for the back I wanted it to be 1" deep and 8" across

for the front I wanted it to be 2" deep and 8" across

pinned the lining at the shoulders

traced an arm opening at the front and back of the right side
then folded it in half and traced the arm openings for the other side

after cutting out the arm holes I pinned it back at the shoulders
for some reason the arm holes turned out too big,
so I pinned it up more at the shoulders

trimmed the shoulders and pinned the bodice at the sides

leaving about 1/2" past the pins, I cut down about 5"

pinned it again on my double to check for fit
so far so good

using my rotary cutter I cut the sides off

almost done cutting

once I cut all the pieces, this is what I had


Still with me?
Let's keep going :)

folding the silk fabric in half and the lining in half
I placed the lining on top of the silk fabric

cut out the silk fabric about 1" bigger all the way around
except for the shoulders

pinned everything together and it looked good

so I sewed everything in place
but the bodice under the arms flared out 
so I had to fix that.
Also, when I tried to put the dress on me..
I couldn't fit my head through the neck opening
so I had to cut it out a bit more..

oops
some how the hem on the right side in the front turned out to be longer

so I had to un-hem it
(something I didn't want to do because I hate hemming)

laying the dress down flat, I cut off whatever was extra

 But now it's too short.. way too short for me to wear anywhere in public!

The lining turned out to be way too snug
so I decided to use it to lengthen the dress.
From the back part of the lining I cut out a strip of fabric
as long and as wide as I could.
Then I cut it in half.
After I folded and  ironed the two pieces.
I stitched them to the edge..
lining up the two raw edges.

after that, I ironed the seam so that it faces down, towards the hem

then to keep it all neat and together I sewed a line of stitches close to the seam

To finish of the edges of the neck and arm openings,
I folded under about 1/8" and then folded again and handed stitched it all.
Then I stitched it with the sewing machine.

I so badly wanted this dress to be a no waste refashion
but it just didn't work the way I wanted it too.

And to not waste as much as possible
Out of some of the scraps I made a flower pin..

I can pin it anywhere I want to.. change it up with my mood :)

at the shoulder

or at the belt

Oh! and this is how I made the belt...
I also didn't want to waste the top part of the skirt..
not sure what it's called, but it's like a belt and has buttons and button holes...
The waistband! Thanks charityshopchic :)

Anyway.. I just tucked in the open raw edge and stitched it through.

Moved the buttons closer and voila! a belt!

And finally this is what my dress looks like...

I can either wear it with the belt...

Or without...


All in all it would have probably been faster and easier
(and less of a headache) had I used a pattern...

But it still turned out lovely, if I do say so myself :)

Sorry if this post seems rushed,
but I was getting really tired by the end of this refashion..
If you have any questions you can always ask :)

15 comments:

  1. I much prefer going on the journey with you than a tutorial. Thank you.

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  2. AnonymousMay 21, 2011

    This is a beautiful project, thanks for sharing! Especially clever to make a belt out of the waistband.

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  3. This is so pretty! I have a quite similar skirt lying around and I had no idea what to make with it... maybe it will become a dress now.

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  4. Wow!! That turned out great!!

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  5. Looks so comfy and pretty. I love the print. It looks really good on you.

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  6. AnonymousMay 21, 2011

    This is wonderful! I love the print and I really love how hard you worked to make this a "no waste" refashion. Well done!

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  7. Just gorgeous! I love it....well done.

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  8. Wow! A very impressive refashion. Keep up the good work Xx

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  9. That is a gorgeous dress - and I love the flower pin.

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  10. I had to crack up when reading this...especially the hem...martha stewart would have never shared the probs...so much more interesting...lol

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  11. Ha! Good thing I'm NOT Martha! Lol

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  12. Awesome Job on this dress! Looks really good on you!

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  13. Wow Lena this looks great, and it looks really great on you! Good job!!! I love the flower that you made, it goes really well with the dress :)

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