From Dress to Skirt

I bought this dress in the children's department over a year ago and have only worn it once because although I loved the skirt so much, the top just wasn't flattering. Instead of selling or donating it, I decided to turn it into a skirt! Below is the before and after.

Run down of how it went down:

•seam ripped the zipper out

•cut the knit top from the skirt 

•blind hem stitched the knit to the serged hem

•sewed snaps to the binding for closure 

Boom!

And actually throw in a couple more steps where I tried different machine stitches to make the new waistband and horribly failed. We all know knit stretches right? Well just remember that when you're trying to machine sew it to something that is not knit. :/ Just learn from my mistakes and hand sew it the first go around. 

Stains? No problem!

That title seriously sounds like something Monica from FRIENDS would say. Wish I could say I'm sorry about it.

So anyway, I bought this bralette right before the Melanie Martinez concert about a month ago, and needed an all white one. It was cheap, obviously, since it's from Forever 21. So when I noticed, the second time I was going to wear it, that it had some light blue looking stains on it, I had half the mind to toss it.

We all know I am not a fan of throwing clothes in a trashcan, so I thought of a solution. I really liked the idea of embroidering white on white to keep the possibility of wearing this with what I bought it for. So I decided to do some french knots, lazy daisies, and a satin stitch rose over the stains.

Good as new! And if you can google or use Pinterest, you can pretty much learn to do these stitches! Freshen up some cardigans or cover some unwanted blemishes on something you were going to throw out!

An "actual" refashion will be up on the blog next!

Africouture Refashion - Vintage Refashion

So it's taken me a little over 8 years to get back in school. Now that I'm officially considered a "non-traditional-aged" student I am back in and majoring in Fashion Design. I thought it might be cool to document my journey here. So there will hopefully be a lot of repurposed projects shared here. Hopefully you dig that. If not, you're probably not in the right place anyway. 😁

So anyway, my first reconstruction project for class was supposed to fit the theme:  "Africouture". If you know me at all, I'm basically the whitest white girl ever so you can imagine how much I was scratching my head at the idea of this. Somehow I pulled off a design that encompassed the theme and a silhouette I'm quite fond of for myself. Without further ado:

Here is the before. Left is front and right is back.

And here's the after!

Just a little run down of what I did because I didn't take pics as I went:

Turned it around backward because I loved that caged neckline!

Chopped it in half to make a co ord

Cut all the button loops off and sewed a new shirt hem to create a V in the back

Sewed a new shirt hem on the bottom with a long stitch to prevent too much stretching (this material was weird)

Sewed a wooden statement button on the top for closure and to make it an open back crop top

Designed and sewed a permanent scalloped wooden bead necklace on the caged neckline

Cut a lot of length off of the skirt, but from the top instead of the bottom

Cut the length off to make it slightly high-low to accommodate curvier girls!

Created a casing on the top of the circle skirt to thread non-roll thick elastic as the waistband

Sewed the skirt shut from the inside

Boom! Done!

It sounds like I did a lot more than it felt like, but apparently I did well because it ended up being picked for the MTSU fashion show and THEN it won 1st place in the tribal category!

So I won a scholarship! I honestly wasn't expecting any of that. I was just trying to make a good grade.

But I'm so excited to make more refashions! I have a beautiful vintage shirt dress I can't wait to revive. I will be able to jump into it next week after finals I hope!

Thanks for following my journey!