DIY Ath-Flow Coverup: Refashion the Trend

The pandemic has made for some really curious fashion trends, eh?

When lockdowns first began, we retreated into our comfiest clothes; sweats, hoodies, and baggy T-shirts. But as weeks have turned into months, and months into a year, a new trend is emerging.

It’s called Ath-Flow, and according to Pinterest, it’s poised to be the fashion trend of 2021.

But what is Ath-Flow?

When athleisure meets elegance – that’s athflow.

2021 Pinterest Trends Report

Ath-Flow encompasses clothing that can be worn on the yoga mat, at work (or a zoom meeting), to dinner and on the sofa when you get home.

And I am here for it.

I was eager to take a stab at this comfy-sounding trend when I bought this dress from the thrift store for $1.

Wait….what?!?!!! *insert record scratch noise*

Bear with me, here.

This dress appears to be from the ’80s-early ’90s and is more suited for an episode of Designing Women than a Vinyasa flow or watching a Bridgerton marathon on my couch (Yes…I binged that series hard).

Don’t worry! I’m not keeping this dress as a dress (although I considered it)!

Oh no…This is dress is about to become a nice & elegant layering piece for my own Ath-Flow look!

First, I removed the skirt.

Then, I made a cut up the peplum on the front.

Next, I trimmed off the peplum entirely.

My resoning for this is that I didn’t want that elastic waist cinching the middle of this piece at all. I’m going for a more flowy silhouette.

This meant I needed to remove the elastic from the detached peplum as well.

Now the top of my future coverup/jacket thing is open, and ready to have its de-elasticized peplum reattached!

But first, I needed to close up the raw edge from where I cut the peplum apart.

I pinned it down.

Then, I stitched it down as well!

Because I knew I wanted my peplum to be centered with the top part of the dress, and because measuring is boring, I just folded the peplum part in two and safety-pinned the center.

Then I did the same thing with the top of the dress.

I laid the two pieces on top of each other (with right sides facing each other), making sure the safety pins were together.

I pinned them together…

…and stitched them together as well!

At this point, I had planned on not needing to take this refashion in at all, as I wanted it to be loose and comfy.

But when I tried it on, I discovered my coverup/jacket thing was more boxy on me than flowy (should have taken a pic, sorry!), and the sleeves looked weird.

Yes, a pic would be helpful. Yes I’m sorry I didn’t take one. :/

Soooo, I plopped my top on my dress form to take it in.

You can see how I kept the front of my top pinned together for this part to make it easier.

I stitched each side down.

We’re almost done! All that’s left are the sides of the front. I just need to make them more jacket-y!

I put my coverup/jacket thing back on my dress form and got to work on the front.

Working around the collar was a little finicky, but after a couple of tries, I got everything to fold and drape nicely.

I stitched each side down, and was DONE.

Well…almost done (The Penny Trick)…

When I tried my coverup/jacket thing on it kept flying open, which I didn’t like. Sooooooo…I inserted a penny to weigh it down on each side!

When I showed it to Mr. Refashionista, he said, “That’s neat! You should make sure to share that tip with your readers!”

So, here ya go.

I ath-flowed to my porch to take a few “after” pics!

I styled my new coverup with black yoga leggings, a fishnet-sleeve sweater, and a pair of sparkly TOMs (a Christmas gift from my MIL…Thanks Nancy!).

Here it is from the back!

I’m super-digging those ’80s shoulder details now that I’ve smoothed out the overall silhouette of this one.

Here’s another peplum dress to jacket refashion you might like!
And here’s how to refashion a frumpy dress into a fitted peplum top!

And of course I have a pair of coordinating sunnies for this.

I feel like I’ve captured the Ath-Flow aesthetic quite well.

While I wouldn’t actually wear my new coverup during a yoga class, I’d totally wear it to a yoga class. And it works well for dressing up workout/athleisure clothes for a zoom call or just relaxing at home with the boys.

While I was busy embracing the comfiness of my new coverup, Mr. Refashionista started dinner.

You can follow our foodie adventures on his Instagram if you like!

I certainly do miss more exciting times when I got to share fun pics of me and friends out and about (I know…those days will come again!). At least we have this comfy new trend to enjoy!

Cheers!