oh that pantsuit.... refashion #64

Yup a cotton pantsuit. In a light shade of taupe/beige. And pockets. I mean what else says I am ready to go out and have some fun?

Ok kidding. This was not working though. Bad color and the pants is meh. Just a smidge too tight. 

It did bring out that silly side of me. hey....... 

So now what? First- cut off the lower legs. Undo the seams in the middle legs. Convert to a skirt. But here is the problem- the legs taper. There is not enough room to cover my thighs if I do as is so I need to add an insert. But..... the remaining fabric is tapered too. The solution was to use the very bottom on the legs, flip it so the wider part will widen the skirt and now I can cover my thighs and you know.... walk! I sewed in those lower legs as triangles. 

This now dress is still ugly and won't work. I need some color! My paleness needs some color! I got inspired by this photo I saw in a magazine and thought I would give tie dye a try. I know I am not one for tie-dye. Actually, I am usually not a fan but I thought this circle pattern might work. I used dark brown RIT dye. Grabbed a whole bunch of rubber bands, made sure my cats were far away and won't eat them, and went to town. The dress was now a sight! Into the dye pot, let it simmer. Rinse in cold water and cut off the rubber bands. Again I had to do this on the down low for my cats. I don't get their fascination with trying to eat rubber bands. I don't get it! 

I had a super cool pattern but I needed to fix the hem. We got all thready after the tie-dye. I cut and serged, then hemmed. Done! 

Now I have a dress! 

A dress with pockets and fun patterns. 

The back, at the time of taking pictures (which are the same batch), I had slept really wrong and messed up my neck through shoulder blade, you can see my patch to calm down the inflammation. But the pattern was crazy on the back. I still like it! 

You can't see the triangle inserts now with the dye. This dress is super comfy and will be a great pool cover up. And hey I can walk in it. So challenge succeeded. Who knew it was a pantsuit?? The recap....

Cheers,
Lauren