Refashioned Dress #2

Remember the far-too-costumey dress that I introduced as my 'next project'?

I finished it at the weekend. This is what it looks like now:

 And here's how I did it...

 1. I only wanted to use the skirt for this project, so the first thing was to unpick it from the bodice. I also removed the zip. Then I measured the new length for the skirt and cut it down.

2. Next, I unpicked all the trim from the seams. I pinned close to the seams before unpicking them so I could sew them back up without too much hassle. (Oh, and the lace, along with the original bodice, got put aside for future use!)

3. This is how the new skirt of the dress looked after resewing the seams. I used the top part of the original skirt to preserve the gathering.

4. The bodice was probably the most ham-fisted part of my refashioning adventure. To get the shape, I basically drew around the bodice of my pink refashioned dress, which I wrote about forever ago. I played with this shape to get a contrasting section down the front of the bodice, then sewed it all together. Afterattaching to the skirt, I added the original zip from the dress.

5. I added some facing (is that what it's called??) inside the top of the dress and made some straps, all with leftover scraps from the original skirt.

6. A few minutes careful hemming, and I was nearly done...

7. To finish off, I added a length of ribbon to the zip pull, to make it easier to do up. I also sewed on a hook and eye at the top as the zip is a little bit 'slippy'.

And that's that! Admittedly the bodice of this dress doesn't have the most amazing fit, but I'm still pleased with how it turned out, considering I kind of guessed my way around it. This dress is really comfotable for the warm weather we're having!

This has been on my to do list since I bought this dress last year. It wasn't until I saw Channel 4's vintage fashion series, This Old Thing, that I felt the motivation to start hacking away at the original dress. Yay that series!

I did this refashion as part of one of my goals on Doing A Thing!