I have owned this sweet vintage Hawaiian Muumuu for about six years, friends.
I actually bought it in Hawaii! It was purchased at the same time as the “before” piece for this refashion I wore while in Hawaii!
If you have doubts as to its authenticity, just check out the label!
I’ve worn this muumuu around the house a few times as-is. I loved how comfortable it was, adored the neckline, and was pretty darn fond of that double fan appliqué near the bottom.
I wondered what I would end up doing with it.
Until now!
Let’s Refashion this mummu into a cute spring/summer dress!
Step 1: Remove those sleeves!
Temps are starting to heat up here in SC. In order to get the most wear out of this dress, those sleeves had to go.
I grabbed my seam ripper and got to it!
As you can see, I chose to execute this part of the refashion while sitting (kiddie) poolside at my newly-refinished table! And yes, our friends who gave us their old table ended up giving us their chairs too (which got the same treatment!).
This part took about thirty minutes (aka, the halfway point of the podcast I was listening to).
When I was done, I put the sleeves aside as we’ll be using them in just a bit!
All that seam ripping left me with armholes that looked like this:
Step 2: Stitch down those fraying armholes!
I brought my muumuu inside and got to pinning!
You can see I’m pinning the blue part under twice and the purple part under once.
I have a couple of reasons for this. The blue part was fraying like crazy, whereas the purple part still had a serged edge that kept it from fraying. Also, the purple fabric is much thicker than the blue fabric, so folding it under twice could make it look really bulky.
After both armholes were pinned, I stitched them both down with my machine, using purple thread for the top parts, and a blue thread for the bottom parts.
I tried to keep the place where the two fabrics met as tidy as possible, but still ended up with this:
You can see where the two fabrics don’t quite join up properly.
Not to worry! I just tacked these parts down by hand.
The armholes are now secure!
Step 3: Take in the sides (if needed).
I tried my now-sleeveless muumuu on, and wasn’t happy with the fit. The armholes were large enough so that the bottom of my strapless bra showed (not ideal), and I thought it would look better taken in a smidge as well.
If you’re trying this at home and your muumuu fits just fine, congratulations! You get to skip a step!
I pinned each side, taking it in 1″.
Then, I ran each side through my machine!
I cut off the excess fabric with my pinking shears, and just like that, Step 3 was done-zo!
Step 4: Make a Sash!
This is the final step!
Since I wanted my muumuu dress to be fitted in the waist, I needed to have something to cinch it with.
I opted for repurposing those sleeves!
First, I got to cutting!
In order to make my sash long enough to go around my waist and be tied off, I needed to get two long strips from each sleeve.
You can see where one part of the sleeve could be folded over (since it was already on a seam, and the others needed to be stitched together, which is what I did!
I pinned them along one side of these pieces and then stitched them down.
I unfolded all of my sleeve parts, and pinned them all together into a single strip, with right sides facing each other.
Then I pinned this together lengthwise and stitched it down!
I turned my sash right-side-out…
…and closed off the ends!
And that’s it! Check out my fahhhhbulous vintage muumuu dress now!
Is that neckline not TO DIE FOR?!?!!!!
Even the back looks great!
I look forward to wearing this dress a lot this spring and summer, and I’m so glad I finally got around to refashioning it!
Cheers!
