When I was getting my new sewing room in order last week I found a dress that I bought last summer at a second hand store. I never got around to redesigning it then so when I found it I was excited to finally get to work. It’s easier to redesign a long dress into a short one since there’s more fabric to work with. This dress was especially good because it didn’t have many seams or other “extras” that are hard to work with. I didn’t have any zipper and didn’t want the struggle that always occurs when I am sewing on a zipper so I came up with the idea to use a cut-out in the back with a button and an elastic waste instead.
So this was what the dress looked like before:
Not really flattering, certainly not on me. But I really like the fabric.
So this is what I did:
I started by taking a dress (from Indiska) that fits me well and has a good length and placed it next to the cherry dress to mark where I should cut to get the skirt a good length.
I cut straight across the skirt. I then used this skirt as a pattern to cut out a copy out of black fabric for the lining. I sewed it together at the sides. Then I sewed the two skirts together at the top and sewed a seam around to make a tunnel and added elastic.
Using my “good dress” again I traced a pattern of the front and back bodice adding darts where needed. For the back I drew a half-circle to the pattern that would make out the cut-out in the back.
I cut out the front and back bodice pieces from the lining fabric.
For the back I sewed around the half-circle, the armpit and the neck leaving the sides, strap and bottom open.
On one of the back pieces I made a loop for the button and placed this in between the two fabrics when sewing together.
This is where I got caught up in the sewing and forgot to take pictures of the process. Leave a comment if you want more details. What I did was sew the bodice together and tried it on several times to make adjustments so it fit well. Then I sewed on the skirt to the bodice and added a button to the back. Done!
The finished dress
And here are some pictures of the dress (and me) that my boyfriend took, thank you P!
If you like refashion / redesign, check out my new post here
20120815 at 16:59
You are so very creative, I like the back very much. I also like the pictures of you and the dress, good job both of you!
20120815 at 17:06
Thanks mom ❤
20120816 at 11:46
This is so cute! You did such a great job on the pattern making! The proportions are just perfect too! I hope to see more of your projects!
20120816 at 12:23
Thank you Kathi, glad you liked it!
20130405 at 17:58
can you detail the waste a bit – I assume you used elastic thread? or did you use an elastic band? love this dress!
20130406 at 17:40
I’m glad you like it Jessi! I sewed together the skirt with the skirt lining to make a channel and then pulled through a small elastic band. So the skirt could have been used seperately as well.
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20140116 at 09:10
LOVE it!