Gingham House Dress to Fit & Flare Sundress Refashion

As we machete our way through this summer of our discontent, I think it’s important to dress comfortably.

After a recent conversation with my friend Erin (who is my voice of reason in all things I care to be reasonable about), I feel like I’m getting the hang of this quarantine thing. If nothing else, the current situation has taught me to stop wasting my energy on things I can’t control.

For YEARS I’ve talked about how nice it would be able to focus on my blog/be self-employed/do my own thing for a while.

I have that now.

Yes, I have all of these things under some of the worst circumstances imaginable, but I basically have what I’ve wanted for a long time.

While I regret making the birthday wish that sports would just stop for a while back in March (THIS ISN’T WHAT I MEANT!!!!), I might as well keep calm and refashion on. Because there’s very little else I can control at the moment.

Speaking of Refashioning on & sports, let’s tackle this house dress!

It’s a baggy non-flattering house dress. Very simple.

But it does have ONE charming aspect that drew me to it right away.

Isn’t that just the sweetest pocket ever???? I couldn’t wait to upgrade its living situation.

First, I removed a few things.

That neck bow was the first to go!

That lace collar was the next item on my list.

I could have unpicked the collar with my seam ripper to remove this part (it would look a little nicer), but I thought snipping it off would work okay enough, since picking it out would have added a lot of time to this refashion.

After I carefully snipped off the collar, I applied fray check to the edge.

As I snipped, I noticed this and giggled a little:

Next, I removed those sleeves with my seam ripper. Now they’re just a pleasant memory.

Last but not least, I picked off the front pocket.

Next, I got to work on those armholes.

I always recommend doing this part before taking a piece in!

First, I pinned them under.

Then, I stitched them down.

I made a dramatic chop!

In order to make this fit & flare sundress refashion happen, I’d need to separate it into two pieces (the fit & the flare).

This was going to be the new bodice of my new sundress!

I fitted the bodice on my dress form.

Okay, If you’re executing this maneuver at home, I recommend NOT making your bodice as fitted as I did here, especially if it has a front button placket. The end result fits okay, but if I eat one more COVID snack, it won’t.

I also recommend sewing the darts down first, and THEN going back to re-fit the sides. I did this all in one step and am darn lucky it worked out.

I stitched my darts down, making sure to leave a long tail at the end to tie them off. Don’t backstitch this, or it’ll look weird. I look weird enough already, so I don’t need to add wonky darts to the mix.

Use a pin to help get your knots tied close to the fabric. Just wrap the knot around the pin, then use the pin to push it closer to the fabric.

I trimmed off the excess fabric from the sides and was ready for my next step!

I laid the skirt part of my dress under the bodice and made a couple of cuts.

You guys. I can’t believe how close this refashion came to not working. I’m taking some big risks here. I just eyeballed the skirt and cut it, leaving room for a seam allowance at the top where it needed to join the bodice.

I recommend laying out a similar dress you own over each part of your refashion to double-check size before you cut anything.

I stitched each side of the skirt down.

Now, let’s bring it all together!

I pinned the bodice of my dress to the skirt, measuring to make sure everything was even!

I made sure to check the snaps for alignment by flipping the top up and fastening them while everything was pinned.

Then, I stitched it together!

Now for that hem!

I cut a little bit off the bottom.

Then, I folded it under and pinned it!

A few of you have asked if I press my hems before pinning & sewing them. I don’t (usually) and it’s never been an issue. They never bunch up or anything like that. Now, If I were to use a blind hem stitch or something like that, I would want to iron it first.

I prefer to just iron everything at the very end when I’m done to save time.

I stitched my non-ironed hem down.

But what about that pocket????

I told you it was coming back!

I pinned that fabulous pocket onto my dress.

After switching out the thread in my machine from white to red, I stitched it down!

And that’s it!

Here’s how my Fit & Flare Sundress Refashion turned out!

Since I’ve had short hair for the vast majority of my adult life, the only “up” styles I know how to do are the ones I did in High School.

I like how my dress turned out, but like said before, wish I had made it a liiiiittttle roomier. Next time, I’ll be a bit more careful.

Cheers!