I had a couple of free afternoons last week, so I made a spring-y/summer-y dress, in honor of the warmer temperatures! :)
This was a remake... it was originally a size 18 dress that I picked up at the thrift store. (I know... what was I thinking, I'm no where near a size 18!) But it was actually really easy, once I got the itch to actually start working on it... it hung in our laundry room for about a year waiting for the perfect moment to get pulled out and refashioned. :)
So this is how it started:
And here's what it turned into:
First I ripped the bodice off the skirt, and ripped the entire bodice apart, except for the seam across the back shoulder. Then I just started pinning it onto the dress form to get the general fit and idea. The seams ended coming in quite a bit, the back shoulder came up, I re-pleated the front shoulders to fit, and I had to add bust pleats at the waistline. I took the sleeve pieces and made those into the neck ruffles.
The skirt already had triangle panels to add fullness to each of the skirt seams. I really didn't want to rip all that out, so instead, I did inverted box pleats on 4 of the seams, stitching them down to the top of the triangle piece, which worked perfectly! Still nice and full, but it fit to the waist, and added a fun dimension to the otherwise plain skirt.
Finally, I used some of the access fabric from the side seams, and made belt loops, since I'm addicted to wearing belts! :)
The entire thing took me less than two afternoons, and several Broadway soundtracks. :) It's a super comfy dress, and I predict it will get lots of wear this year. :)
Hope you are enjoying this *almost* spring weather as much as I am! Yay for seasons! :)