Easy DIY Romper (from an Old Dress!)

On January 1 of this year, I was feeling really confident. “This is going to be my year!” I proclaimed to my friends.

Pretty much everything in my life was going great and getting better. Personal life? Awesome! Career? Going great too! Hobbies? Super into ’em! Travel plans? Lots!

Fast forward a few months to where I’m laid off, my hubs is furloughed, and we’re down to our last roll of toilet paper during one of the scariest times in modern history.

While I would have expected myself to be completely freaked out right now, my anxiety is taking a back seat to my scrappy sense of self-sufficiency.

As the economy opens up again, the world is going to need creative people who can pivot and adapt. I’m reasonably resourceful and talented. I’ll be fine. *shrug*

I think, in these wildly uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to keep the creative problem-solving part of our brains sharp, don’t you?

Speaking of taking something not-so-great and turning it into something better, let’s do a Refashion!

The above dress isn’t awful and it isn’t great either. It’s just a basic, kind of dated floral print jersey dress without much going for or against it. I’ve had it in my refashion stash for a while, uncertain of what to do with it.

I don’t know about you guys, but while I’ve been at home lately I haven’t been in a very “dressy” mood.

That’s when the idea hit me. Why not turn this dress into a cute comfy romper?

This refashion is incredibly easy and takes about five minutes. It does involve some sewing, but only a little. You could easily hand stitch it.

Before trying to make a romper of your own, make sure your starter dress has a full front or full back closure. Otherwise, you won’t be able to get into your romper when it’s done. Which would be a bummer.

Here we go!

First, I carefully chose where I wanted the crotch of my romper to be and added a few inches to that length (You’ll see why in a bit).

I cut off everything below that point like so:

Then, I snipped out a triangle notch on the bottom center.

I took my dress/romper, turned it inside out, and pinned along the cut-out triangle.

After a quick whirrr of my sewing machine, my new DIY romper was born!

Since the original dress was of a non-fraying jersey knit, this meant I didn’t need to hem the leg holes. Which was a good thing, as this romper definitely ended up on the short side.

I also snipped off the bottom of the dress’ original hem to make a sash for my waist.

And here’s my romper now!

I decided I wasn’t quite feeling the original neckline of this piece, so I just unbuttoned the top button and folded the sides inward to make it a V-neck. Easy!

I fully plan on making a few more of these, and may drop the crotch lower for more of a harem pants look for my stay-at-home lounging needs.

Cheers!