Est. 2010
Fall-ing for Decorative Stitching
You guys. It’s almost here. It’s really almost here!
Of course I’m talking about Fall, y’all!
When you’re languishing in an endless time soup (like pretty much all of us are at the moment) with days bleeding into days with little to differentiate them other than the occasional fresh catastrophe, a change in seasons is a BIG FLIPPING DEAL.
I woke to feel a slight crispness in the air, and knew exactly what I wanted to wear for the day!
I chose this dress for today’s refashion:
You’re looking at a boring green dress that doesn’t fit me that I found on the $1 clearance rack at the thrift store. Womp womp, right?
Not so fast!
Take a closer look at that fabric!
This dress is made of 100% tightly-woven polyester, which is one of my favorite fabrics to refashion with as this particular type doesn’t fray when you cut it, and it dries SUPER FAST after you wash it.
A lot of folks hate the feel of this type of polyester because it’s more scratchy than soft, but I actually like it. I also like scratchy towels. I should probably talk to someone about this.
But enough pondering! It’s about thyme I got started on this refashion, no?
First, I chopped off the bottom hem.
I snipped carefully right along the hem’s edge. Since, as I said before, this fabric doesn’t fray, this is going to be my dress’ future sash!
I cut this part off before any other alterations because:
A. I knew this dress would be long enough after being taken in even with it removed
&
B. I needed all the length I could get for my sash to wrap around my waist tie it the way I wanted it to (You’ll see what I mean at the end.).
Then, I put my dress on my dress form inside-out and pinned where I wanted to take it in.
Since this dress doesn’t have any zippers or other closures, I had to be careful to make sure it would slide off my dress form (and later me). I couldn’t make it too fitted, which was fine, as I didn’t want to.
I pinned the sides of the dress, measuring them to make sure they were even.
So, I’m pinning a straight line from the armpit to the bottom, but keep in mind that doesn’t mean that’s going to be eventual shape of this dress.
Here’s what I mean:
I’m a pear shape, and this dress’ waist is going to be cinched with a sash. Therefore, I know the top is going to be a little loose, and hips will be more fitted.
Cinching the waist with my sash will give the top a little more volume than the bottom.
So, even though this looks like a straight up-and-down shape, when it’s actually worn, it won’t be. When you’re refashioning, it helps to think a step ahead and see beyond what’s literally in front of you.
Does that make sense?
I ran each side through my sewing machine to take my dress in.
Then, I snipped off the excess fabric.
I used pinking shears for this, which was totally unnecessary, as this fabric doesn’t fray. I could have totally just used regular shears.
Now for a hem!
I always use my ironing board for this part as it makes handling the dress super easy.
I could have ended this refashion right here, but I wasn’t quite feeling any Fall vibes yet.
Thyme (har har) to add some Fall-inspired decorative stitching!
I chose this stitch on my machine:
Then, I loaded up some orange thread and went to town, adding this decorative leaf stitch to the neckline and bottom hem of my dress!
Check out my (pre)Fall frock now!
I like how nicely this dress works to transition into Fall. Temps aren’t quite there yet, but it’s definitely putting off autumnal vibes.
I also like how well it works with some of my favorite vintage accessories including this awesome ’80s leather handbag.
My new dress enjoyed an evening visiting with a few friends!
Cheers!
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