Happy Birthday to meeeeeee! 🙂 Today, I hit the big 3-0!
I needed something fun to wear for what I hoped would end up being a delightful evening.
Unfortunately, all I could find on my refashion rack was this sad stained jumpsuit! :/

Time for a Jumpsuit-to-Dress Refashion. While I’m at it, I think I’ll dye it as well!
The previous owner had obviously pulled a Jillian and damaged one of the legs!
Yikes! This was going to need a lot of work!
First, I needed to take care of that completely blah lack of color! I tossed the jumpsuit into a nice, hot dye bath.
After the bath, I unpicked the crotch. This jumpsuit was about to become a cute & sassy dress. 🙂
I put the jumpsuit on my dress form and pinned down my new front and back seams for what would be my new dress.
While I planned on shortening my dress, I still pinned it all the way down. This is because it’s difficult to tell exactly how short it should be at this point.
Always better to start off too long than too short as you can always cut more away, but adding fabric back on is much more challenging.
I stitched my new seams down and then took in the sides.
This meant completely removing the side pockets. I KNOW…I didn’t want to do it either, but they ruined the lines of the dress.
I was so close to being done! 🙂
I wanted my new dress to be a cute cocktail number, so I hacked off a good bit of the length, after trying it on and marking where I wanted it to end with a safety pin.
Then I gave it a new hem.
I tried my dress on, and realized that I hated that netting at the top. Off it went!
The top of the dress was fitted enough to stay up on it’s own without it, otherwise this wouldn’t have worked.
I have to admit, I’m really quite proud of how I managed to save this one! 🙂

Sadly, I completely forgot to take any after pics while I was out and about! 🙁 Don’t fret! I had a marvelous evening! 🙂
Oh! Some of you might be interested to see the label on this freebie…
Cheers!

Wow! That is an amazing refashion. Well done. I actually did not know who Phillip Lim was, so I Googled it. And then realized that your jumpsuit would have likely cost over $1,000 new. Amazing! You are just so darned talented, fearless and inspiring! Thank you for your posts. Love them.
I LOVE your necklace!
Nailed it! Gorgeous re-do!
Happy belated birthday! To 30 flirty and fabulous!
I´m sorry I missed your birthday so belated greetings to you – you did a fantastic job on this and looked amazing. I hope the year ahead is full of love and laughter for you 🙂
What a massive improvement, it’s sooo gorgeous now. Happy 30th birthday too!!!
Can’t believe that crazy jumpsuit was Phillip Lim. Your refashion of it is stunning!
This is a really incredible transformation! It looks awesome. Did in need anything extra to stay up without the netting?
Hope you had a great birthday. You certainly looked stunning.
Happy belated birthday, Jillian, you look marvellous in that dress. Fabulous work! You go girl!
That is just gorgeous! A very happy birthday to you
A very happy belated birthday to you Jillian! You looked SMASHING for your evening out – good for you!
Simply gorgeous! Hope you had an amazing birthday. Thanks for your daily inspiration!
Wow, what a transformation!
Gorgeous! I think one of my favorite refashions I’ve ever seen! So so classy looking! I hoped it made you feel like a million bucks 🙂 Happy Birthday dear!
Bonnie
Happy big 30!!! Wow, this refashion is one of my favorites!!! It looks amazing — not to mention the new color!
Beautiful! Happy birthday to you! Hope you will have a fabulous year ahead. 🙂
Happy Birthday! and I hope everything is going ok for you right now.
Renee 🙂
Happy Birthday!!! I just hit the lil 3-0 a few days ago…..I’m hoping yours was even more awesome than mine!
Happy Birthday! I loved how this came out. I’m wondering, was it all cotton? If not, I thought you couldn’t use Rit dye on synthetics? I want to try dye-ing some clothes so I’m really wondering………..I love checking your blog, by the way. 🙂
This was actually 100% silk, which dyes really well. 🙂 You CAN use dye on synthetics, but they won’t take much color at all. Thanks!!! 🙂
Happy Birthday!!!!!
Great work, Jillian! Happy Birthday!
Gorgeous! It came out way better than I could imagine and the color is awesome.
I concur! I’ve perused through a number of your projects and this dress looks sensational.