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Day 254: Happy Birthday to Me! Dyed Silk Jumpsuit-to-Dress Refashion

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Day 255: Kicked Back Dress
Day 253: Wino Dress

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!  :/

refashionista dyed silk jumpsuit to dress refashion before
Oh dear.

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!

stained jumpsuit leg
Tripping and falling…not just for Jillians anymore! 🙂

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.

box of rit denim blue dye
A blue hue will certainly do!

After the bath, I unpicked the crotch.  This jumpsuit was about to become a cute & sassy dress.  🙂

unpicking crotch of jumpsuit
Pick! Pick! Pick!

I put the jumpsuit on my dress form and pinned down my new front and back seams for what would be my new dress.

pinned front crotch of jumpsuit on dress form
Pinned!

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.

sewing side of dress
Whirrrr!

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.

cutting off bottom of dress
Chop!

Then I gave it a new hem. 

hemming bottom of dress
Ahem!

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.

cutting off top netting of dress
Snippy Snippy!

I have to admit, I’m really quite proud of how I managed to save this one!  🙂

refashionista dyed silk jumpsuit to dress refashion after
Sassy!

Sadly, I completely forgot to take any after pics while I was out and about!  🙁  Don’t fret!  I had a marvelous evening!  🙂

refashionista dyed silk jumpsuit to dress refashion selfie
Aging like a fine wine! 😉

Oh!  Some of you might be interested to see the label on this freebie…

Phllip Lim Label
Phillip Flipping Lim!!!!!!  Eeeeeee!

Cheers!

refashionista dyed silk jumpsuit to dress refashion before and after

Day 255: Kicked Back Dress
Day 253: Wino Dress

25 thoughts on “Day 254: Happy Birthday to Me! Dyed Silk Jumpsuit-to-Dress Refashion”

  1. 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.

    Reply
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  6. 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 🙂

    Reply

  9. 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.

    Reply

  15. 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

    Reply

  16. Happy big 30!!! Wow, this refashion is one of my favorites!!! It looks amazing — not to mention the new color!

    Reply

  20. 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. 🙂

    Reply

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