Dress Refashion...

Here's my latest refashion. I began with a woman's Summer dress and shirt...

I flipped the dress around, so the back became the front and the front became the back.

Originally the back, now the front...

First up was to alter the back of the dress which is now the front:

• Add two pleats to take about 4" off the width at the front.
• Leave the top of the pleats unstitched so the straps can be added.

Originally the front, now the back...

Second up was to alter the front, which is now the back:

• Add four pleats to the band to reduce the width. As a woman's dress, the band sat under the bust. On a child, the band becomes a waistband. The existing tie was left as it was.
• Take off the old straps.
• Cut the top to make it slightly higher than the back.
• Make a casing and insert elastic.

Next up was to shorten the fully lined dress and make new straps:

• Cut the dress to the required length and hem both the dress and the lining.
• Use the cut off lining to form the straps.
• Feed elastic through the straps.
• Sew the front strap inside the pleat to hide it.
• Sew the strap to the back.

Easy as!!! A woman's dress turned into a little girl's dress.

You can see that some of the photos have been taken under different lighting conditions. The photos immediately above and below are the closest to the actual colour.

With the left over fabric from the hem, I made a little drawstring bag. The top row of ric rac hides a seam, as all I had was one long strip of fabric. The lining of the bag is made with the shirt. The ties for the bag came from my stash, but I have no idea what piece of clothing they originally came from.

What better way to finish off the outfit, than a fabric flower hair tie. Once again I've used this fabulous tutorial for a flower headband, written by Cass, over at Cass Can Sew.

There you have it, a really quick and easy refashion...

... Pam

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Edited to add: This dress has been outgrown and has now been refashioned into a skirt.

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