When I found this dress on the $1 rack at a local thrift store, I almost squealed with delight!
It looks like someone made a girl’s toddler dress in an adult size, and I just want to giggle.
I mean, look at it.
Basically everything I hate about this dress is featured in the above pic. That weird low collar looks too juvenile for a grown-up dress and those functionless buttons aren’t fooling anybody!
I immediately got to ripping and chopping!
I was happy to leave these behind:
I played with the dress on my dress form, trying to figure out what my next step would be. All of a sudden it hit me!
I would kill two birds with one stone and take it in from the front. This would help it be more fitted and fix that ridiculous collar!
Let me show you!
I folded the front over in a way that would connect the collar. To make sure I would be able to walk in my new dress, I stopped pinning right at the hips (you’ll see why in just a bit!).
I took the dress off the dress form and added more pins, making sure everything laid down nice & flat!
You can probably guess what came next!
Now it was time to address the length. I waited to do this until the dress was taken in, as taking stuff in automatically makes it shorter. I wanted a dress, not a tunic (Fun Fact: 50% of my early tunic refashions were accidental). 😉
I tried my dress on, marked about an inch lower than where I wanted it to fall (for a seam allowance), and chopped!
I gave my new dress a new hem!
We’re almost done folks! I took that bottom scrap and refashioned it into a sash!
I stitched a seam along my sash and then turned it inside out.
All that was left was to give my new dress a good press, making sure to make a distinct crease along that front pleat I had created.
And just like that, my refashion was complete!
I wore my new dress to meet up with friends at Black Rooster!
The background chicken (as well as all of the art at Black Rooster) is by local artist, Michael Krajewski!
Have you ever tried taking in a refashion from the front? How did it work out for you?
Cheers!
