Ann Klein Paisley dress refashion

Refashion time! I know I have not been refashioning like I used to but I have been trying to focus on sewing up my stash of fabric than refashioning. I am managing to get some in here and there. :)

Behold, we had a semi-decently fitting dress. It is Ann Klein with a fun red/pink paisley print. The probably was the length of the dress and the length of the sleeves.

This sleeve length was not meant for my abnormally long arms....

I need to just fix the lengths of everything and be done. Right?? Well I got the sleeves fixed. Then I worked on the hem. My thought was cut it down some, then maybe turn it from a circle to more of an A-line skirt. And this is where the mistake happened....

Hmm. Darn it! I got my numbers mixed up with how many inches I needed to cut off. And I cut off too much.. I tried to save it the best I could. Its more of a peplum top than anything. I did slim down some of the sides. Here is the new top

I mean it has pockets. But you have to watch with the pocket they want to stick out.

It is wearable but not what I wanted to do with it. I really envisioned a shirtdress in the end. But overall this works. Here is the before and after.

Cheers,
Lauren

Asymmetrical Plaid Dress Refashion

Another refashion! Wahoo. Started off with this dress. It has an elastic waist which fit. But the top portion was a bit too big. But that hem!!! Whoever thought an asymetrical side hem was a good idea?? It cuts off your visual height and makes you look shorter.

It just sort of hangs there way too big in the top.

The back is not bad- it is cute with a little peak a boo opening. But the sides are a bit big.

So the plan... even out the bottom hem. Pretty easy.

Then to fix the bodice, I sort of couldn't figure out how to fix it because the way to do this was to rip out seams, but this bodice was lined. In non-sewing terms- a lot of work and I didn't even know what to do with it so I'd be doing work on something I didn't know how to fix. So this sat and sat. Then after trying this on and looking in a mirror, I was moving my hair out of the way and said hmm what if I added like a dart?? This lead me to folding the bodice and egad! this could seriously work. So I symmetrically folded in the dress, pinned, and then sewed down the fabric. OMG Love!

Here is the dress done! Yeah!

Again not a fan of taking after photos, hey messy hair and don't care. But what an improvement to this dress! Perfect for fall!

Cheers,
Lauren

Birds of a feather... dress refashion

I know another Monday post. ;0) I sort of have it together (not really just still catching up slowly). I saw this feather dress and had to have!! Turns out it is home sew- no tag on the dress and I could see the notches from the pattern. But the fabric was a poly knit with those bad neck ties! Blah!

It was just a hair too long but the fit was pretty good overall. And I didn't like the sleeves.

The problem with selecting fabric with such a large patterns such as this feather pattern is you have to pick out the right pattern b/c you will look the feathers and then it just sort of gets lost. Also, the poor hem was blind hemmed. You can't do that on a knit fabric. Or else you get this.

The struggle with this knit is real. I almost felt sorry the hem.

Otherwise the dress doesn't fit bad- it has a back zipper so that is a plus. I disliked the sleeves and the neck tie. Both of those came off.

Then right under the arms holes was a bit too big. I fitted that.Sew a hem on the armhole.

Take of the poor blind hem. Make my own hem. Again, got to love the double needle.
Done! Love my feather dress.

Here's the recap. It feels good to sew!

Cheers,
Lauren

Giving a strapless dress some modesty, refashion 98

I thought this dress would work as is, yeah I know one of those. It fit but I felt as if the bodice was a smidge too small. I felt as if I was a bit exposed. Just not enough bodice. I wanted a way to fix this some way.

I decided I was going to try and not necessarily add straps but try and create some sort of addition to the top. I used some leftover red fabric. I cut 2 rectangles and across the top I sewed a gathering stitch. I then attached the fabric strips to the dress. I did this by trying on the dress, placing the line on my shoulders and pinning where I needed to attach. I started with the fronts first then did the backs. I hand stitched the fabric to the dress. It really did not take that long.

I also removed the buttons on the front of the dress.

Here is the end product! Definitely modestified the dress. I sort of have gathered sleeves. Something completely different!

 The back..

Here's the recap. I feel much better wearing this dress!

1 more refashion left from last year! I know and it February- so sad!! Stay tuned for next week for another refashion! My last one and it is a good one!! :)

Cheers,
Lauren

The blue dress from Iran, #83

This project has been in my closet now for longer than 2 years. It is sooo sad to say. Also this post was also in my blog drafts for a long time as well. These beginning photos are still from Alabama. But now I finally got it refashioned. Glad I did.

So I actually don't have any photos of this 2 piece outfit on. But it was a nice top that fit relatively well but then it had this horrible sack of a skirt to wear underneath that you tied with a ribbon. Yes really. But the embroidery is gorgeous!

The Gold was too much. I don't like bright gold and it was tacky. So I thought I would dye the dress hoping the gold would tone down into some other color. I used my blue iDYE b/c it is good for synthetic dying, crossed my fingers and hoped it would tone it down. 

Since the dye is for synthetics, it did not change the color of the cotton fabric. 

It did tone down the gold! It was a blueish green now in color. Oh I was so happy. 

We still had a long way to go to fix this. I originally wanted a dress but that probably would not get a lot of use. So I went for a tunic top. First, I cut off the bottom embroidery from the top and then cut off the skirt right below the pockets. 

I then connected the 2 together and made a small casing with some elastic to take it in some at the waist. Here is the new top. 

I have already worn it to work with some nice pants and got a ton of compliments with it. I was just too lazy to take a picture. Here is the recap.

Cheers,
Lauren