I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. 🙂 Whether you’re spending it with your family, your chosen family, or your fur family, I really hope you’re surrounded by the ones you love!
I spent today with Fella and Gypsy, baking cookies, and being lazy (so nice!).
I wanted something comfy, but still pretty for our very casual Christmas Eve!
I dug out this $1 ’80s dress from my to-be-refashioned bin. 🙂
Alrighty! This dress is too big for me, and looks pretty dated, huh?
Luckily, all I needed to do was make a few amputations!
I first ripped out those shoulder pads.
The sleeves and some of the skirt length followed.
Since I knew I’d be cinching the waist of this dress in with a sash at the end (thus raising the hem further), I was verrrrry conservative about that bottom chop.
Remember, you can always chop off more later, but it’s much harder (if not impossible) to add that fabric back on!
I took that bottom piece and turned it into an obi-style belt to give this dress a waist.
I left the sash part super-long…just to keep things interesting. 🙂
As you can probably surmise by my lack of a jacket, it’s still ridiculously warm here. I’m definitely not complaining…I loooove warm weather, and hate being chilly!
Cheers!

This is WONDERFUL! (By the way, in the north of England, people who feel the cold are referred to as “a bit nesh”).
You could turn the shoulder pads into some rockin’ epaulettes! I love your refashions. So so Awesome.
You are so talented! You make it look so easy and fun!
I love what you have done with this dress! What you did with the waist is really creative! Will definitely be on the lookout for something like this when I go thrifting tomorrow. Great job! Oh, and I was SO glad that it wasn’t too cold here in South Carolina. I hate the cold, but love things like cardigan sweaters to add to an outfit! Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
Wouldn’t want a chilly Jilly! Here in SoCal a lot of people have fire going in the fireplace because it’s Christmas but it’s 80 degrees. Maybe they turn on the air conditioner so the fire doesn’t get to hot. Anyway, I’m with you. I love warm weather and thanks goodness. We both live in very warm to hot climate. Merry Christmas!
The dress is soo cute! Love the blog. I read it every day. Happy sewing and refashioning in 2012! Merry Christmas from Australia
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I really love the belt idea! Looks fantastic! Still not 100% sold on the neckline but the rest of it definitely!