Est. 2010
Slit Bottom Sleeve Dress Refashion
This dress is a tad dour, isn’t it?
While this $1 thrifted frock coordinates well with this Day of the Dead planter (that contains a now-dead succulent) that Mr. Refashionista insisted we needed from Aldi, I’m still not a fan.
Does anybody else struggle to keep these little guys alive? I feel like my house is a succulent hospice. Many enter, but none exit (except in the trash).
This dress is dated, ill-fitting, and just…somber.
But I do so love a black dress, as evidenced by this little black dress refashion, and this black sweater dress refashion!
But I don’t love this one…yet!
To make this dress work, I decided I’d take it in, shorten it, and adjust the sleeves to be bracelet-length with slits at the bottom.
Fairly simple, no?
I really like dresses that are cut like this (with bust darts), as they hold their overall shape really well when being taken in from the sides.
To get started, I pinned where I wanted one of my sleeves to end, then chopped off the bottom.
After I chopped the one sleeve, I laid the chopped-off part over the other sleeve and used it as a guide to cut it as well.
Then, I grabbed my seam ripper and undid each sleeve’s seam.
I measured each slit to be about 5″, knowing they’d end up being about 4″ after I hemmed my sleeves.
I snipped off the bottom hem of my dress, thinking I might want to use it as a sash for my new dress when I was done.
I didn’t end up using it, but cutting it off before taking the rest of the dress in meant it would be long enough to tie around my waist if I later chose to.
Now to take it in a smidge!
I put my dress on my dress form inside-out and pinned the sides where I wanted to take it in.
I stopped pinning right above my sleeve slits, as this is where I’ll be doing a little backstitching to secure the seam.
You can see how this is going to make my sleeves slightly bell-shaped!
I stitched each side down…
…then used my pinking shears to trim off the excess side fabric.
My sleeves still needed a bit more tending to, as the sides of the slits were open and raw.
I folded each side of the sleeve slits under once and secured them with a small zigzag stitch.
I gave each sleeve a new hem by first pinning them under twice .5″…
…then stitched each one down.
All that was left to tackle was that bottom hem!
I folded my bottom hem under twice.
Then, I stitched my new hem down!
I think my newly-refashioned dress looks quite fetching!
I styled my new dress with big sunnies, a dramatic coiled bracelet, and a pair of burgundy boots.
It feels like I haven’t worn a dress in ages!
Getting a little dolled up felt really nice, even if it was just to have tacos at a friend’s place.
This is a fairly basic refashion, but in my opinion, it’s a good one.
I think this dress would work great for work (if we ever go there again), after-work cocktails, or even a succulent funeral!
Cheers!
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