It’s been cloudy and grey here in Sunny SC as of late. Rather than rebel against the color scheme surrounding me, I decided to just go with it.
This dress is full of blah, but for $1 I thought I could make something better out of it!
First, I chopped off everything below the side slits that you can’t really see it the “before” pic (sorry!).
Next, I took in my new dress about 1″ at the top and then 1/2″ near the hips (as I’m more hippy than busty).
Then I gave my dress a new hem by folding the bottom under once.
Since this piece is made of tightly-woven polyester fabric, that edge won’t fray a bit (and I needed the length).
These alterations left me with a dress that was better-fitted and shorter, but still pretty boring.
But I didn’t stop there!
I took one of the cut off panels and snipped off the bottom hem.
Then I took the other panel, folded the raw edge over by about 6″, and pinned it to my new frock at one shoulder and the opposite hip.
I stitched my new drapey thing down at both points…
….then used that cut-off hem as a sash to give my waist just a bit more definition.
I tied it in the front under the drapey thing.
Check out that blah frock now!
I wore my sorta Grecian dress for a ladies’ night at 116 (a favorite local restaurant) with two of my favorites!
Kaitlin (aka The Wine Snob) even brought me a bottle of her (and two of her ginger brethren’s) new wine, Ginger Ninjas!
I really like the sculptural look of this new frock, and I like that it’s an easy look to replicate. Whaddayouthink?
Cheers!
love the face u make in ‘before’ pictures
I love this! I’m so sick of all of those “granny material draggin” maxi dresses… gonna buy one on the cheap and try this.
Wonderful transformation
Very clever, I love it!
The Grecian redo is one of your most creative.
Waay too cute, love it! I enjoy receiving your posts on the fashion re-do’s! Keep up the good work!!
This might be one of my favorites of yours. Would be cool to do the toga bit in a contrasting color or print. Kudos!
Love the contrasting hem stitch color! Great idea….
That is such a good idea, and it looks FABULOUS! They recently opened a Goodwill outlet near me, complete with those fantastic blue bins, so beloved of my heart, and I am exultant about it!
I love this, it’s so cute and different.
I’m driving over from Chucktown for the Mizzou game this Saturday. Can you bring your scissors and sewing machine over to our tailgate off Market St and design me a “refashionista” from a dress I found for $1? I’ll provide the food, drink and jello shots!!!! GO COCKS!
Whoa! After Jello Shots that would be a completely different refashioning experience!
This is one of my favorites! I like the different color hem.
I saw you said, “mini whirl.” Are you still using the travel machine at times? Starts with a J? I want to get it for myself (don’t want a big huge one these days) and one to teach my youngish kids. Still a good choice in your opinion? (Thanks)
Brava. Quick and clever re-do; the hem-belt is a stroke of genius
I love this one!
I think your ideas are awesome and you are one smart chicky-babe!
Definitely one of my favourites to date… I do a bit of sewing myself and am really tempted to give this look a go. Hope you don’t mind?
I really liked the end result of this refashion. AND, you cannot go wrong with a wine from the Willamette Valley in Oregon – I grew up there, and know a couple of wine makers, some of the best wine in the world!
You’re amazing!!! You seem fearless when it comes to cutting up dresses! And the refashions you come up with!!!!! I was looking at some things at Goodwill today and wondering how and where to start!! You should give us a tutorial on how to get started!!!!!!
Fabulous!
Inspired! I love the drapey look and it could be done on any size of dress. I think it might be good for hiding a bit of tummy, too, for those of us who have that problem.
Love it! Fantastic! You are so creatively amazing!
Hey, cool way too jazz up a plain dress! It looks lovely on you, too. 🙂
Suuuuuper cute! Love the detail. Is it me, or does the hem have a lighter, contrasting color of thread? You may have mentioned it and I missed reading about it. The fit is awesome too 🙂 Great work!
I love the flappy thing! I think it would be great for masking the burrito food baby I sport after my favorite noms! Love!
You are ‘totes amaze-balls’ as our students would say. I wish I had space for a dummy so I could drape and shape properly 🙁 I can’t even find someone to repair my sewing machine at the moment so am doing stuff by hand (not my top skill)
Awesome refashion!!!
It’s another winner! No huge changes, but a great result!
A really lovely refashion – looks great!
This is my absolute favorite!
I like it .. I love it… You should be really proud of it!!
I like it!
This dress is so cute! I’ll give it a try as soon as I find something suitable to refashion. You are so inspiring!
I think I like it!
Also with the previous post, kudos for not giving up on the dress with a man buldge lol
I swear I learn so much about sewing on your blog, it’s a real treat!
Thank You 🙂
Cute!
I love it, very creative!!
Suggestion: Help us ladies learn how to creatively put pockets on dresses to hold our cell phones. I miss calls and texts if I put my phone in my purse instead of a pocket. iPhones are so big, even before the latest and greatest even bigger ones.
I second this suggestion! It would be such a bonus to have more pocketed frocks.
Awesome! Really like this one it was dead looking and now you made it look “alive” its “alive”! Lol..PS I would wear that!
Always a treat to see you work your ReFashionista magic! I really love this dress!
I really liked this one and you could also put the other piece on going in the opposite direction for another look. I would like to try this one myself
i love!!!
Very cute!
Quite possibly your best refashion yet. I love it! It’s definitely one I’d try and replicate too. Thanks for the inspiration.
That’s SO beautiful and flattering, great job!
Very cool! Wouldn’t have thought to do that and it looks awesome.
Very nice and very clever! I love it!
Another fab re-do! Bravo! And I am also curious about the wine, sounds delicious.
Great refashion yet again!! I am from Oregon and was tickled to see you and your friends drinking a wine from my home state. I haven’t tried it myself, how did it taste?
Awesome! Maybe a more fall color? With your pretty dark looks you can wear just about every color! Lucky girl!