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All the Southern Ladies: A Dress to Top Refashion

We're Not in Kansas Anymore - Kat's Darling Dorothy Costume!
Torch Night Dress: '90s Dress Refashion

It’s not always easy being a Southern Lady.

dress to top refashion before
Huh? What lady?

No no no!  Not me!  The dress!

Southern Lady garment label
I do declayah! 🙂

I like the pattern of this dress, and that neck tie thingy is actually pretty cool.  But it’s a bit frou frou, and I don’t really like pale pink that much.

 Sadly, the washing instructions label had been cut out, and I wasn’t quite certain of the fabric content for this frock.

I decided to give dyeing it a go anyways!

Dark brown rit dye for refashion
This should muddy up that pink a bit!
dye bath
Hmmmmnnnn…I dunno…

Sadly, this Southern Lady didn’t really take much of the dye at all.  :/  Oh well…I had to try!

I noticed several small ink stains on the bottom half of my new dress (Southern Ladies can be oh so spotty!).

See what I mean?
See what I mean?

I decided to just forgo the whole dress idea and make myself a new top instead!

First, I made a cut right above where the ink stains started.

bottom part of skirt being cut off
Alrighty!

While the brown dye didn’t do much to change the color of my new dress, it certainly brought out the discoloration of the armpits!  :/  No worries!  I had to take it in a couple of inches, so that effectively removed the stained parts!  Whew!

measuring and pinning sides of dress
Just a smidge!

Each side went under the needle!

dress to top refashion on sewing machine
Whirrrrrrr!

I cut off the excess material with my pinking shears, then closed up that bottom raw edge.

pinned hem for dress to top refashion
Pin it!
sewing hem on dress to top refashion
Sew it!

After a quick press, I was ready to head off and acquire some awesome local art!

dress to top refashion after
Pretty, eh?
dress to top refashion after close up
The view from above!

I really like this top!  It’s quite versatile too!  While I’ve styled it with jeans and simple flats for its maiden voyage, I could easily pair it with a pencil skirt and heels for work.  ðŸ™‚

I wore my new top to meet up with Michael Krajewski to pick up an awesome commissioned painting.  ðŸ™‚

refashionista holding up sewing machine painting
Of course it’s a sewing machine! 😉

After that, Dan and I met up to pick up a drawing by the very talented Emilee Harper!

Emilie Harper and Jillian Owens
She’s pretty great. 🙂

What’s that?  You’d like a closer look?  Okay!

Emilie Harper Drawing
Caw! Caw!

Dan and I were quite pleased with our new acquisitions!

Jillian Owens and Dan Adams
He’s not a communist, I promise.

We ran into other friends as well…

All the Southern Ladies: A Dress to Top Refashion 7
‘Ello!

…and shirt-swapping commenced!

All the Southern Ladies: A Dress to Top Refashion 8
What the what?!?!

I, of course, was waaaay to fond of my new top to give it up that easily!

dress to top refashion after
It’s just you and me, top! 🙂

Cheers!

refashionista dress to top refashion before and after
We're Not in Kansas Anymore - Kat's Darling Dorothy Costume!
Torch Night Dress: '90s Dress Refashion