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Vintage Christmas Dress Refashion

My New Blog: Chef & Pauper
Impressing the Parents with Thrift Store Decor!

Happy Christmas Eve, errrrybody! 😀

When I needed a festive frock to wear to my supper club’s annual White Elephant gift exchange, I went for this one that has been languishing on my refashion rack for over a year.

I almost refashioned it last year, but got caught up in the hustle, bustle, and (let’s be honest) procrastination of the season and it never happened.

…Until now!

Vintage Christmas Dress Refashion before
I can’t seem to find my covered wagon anywhere.

I’m sure this is some sort of costume from some sort of Christmas play.

Vintage Christmas Dress Refashion 5
I’m ready for my closeup!

Yeah…this wasn’t going to cut it. My thought was to take this pioneer dress and turn it into a sort of kimono-ish dress.

I’m not sure whether I succeeded. I’ll let you decide.

But first, let’s take a moment to make fun of the label:

denise are here label
Oh are she?

It was time to get a choppin’! First, I removed the buttons from the front of the dress, as i found them frumpy and lame.

removing buttons with seam ripper
Byeee!

Then, I cut a slit down the front of the neck of the dress. My plan was to turn it into a sort of sweetheart v-neck…once again, trying to evoke a kimono-ish look.

cutting slit for v-neck
Snnnip!

I folded each side of the V down, pinned it and stiched the new neckline. Did I take a picture of this process? No. I did not. I’m bad bad blogger who is out of practice and will undoubtedly get coal in my stocking tomorrow.

A few more cuts followed.

cut off sleeve bottoms
Sleeve me alone!
cut off bottom of dress
Chop x 3!

Next, I stitched the two ends of the side sashy-things together.

sewing sash on sewing machine
Like so.

I then got to work at taking in the skirt of the dress.

pinned side of dress
Going for a slimmer silhouette!
sewing side of dress
Taking it in! Whirrrrrr!

After cutting off the excess fabric with my pinking shears, I hemmed the bottom of the dress and the sleeves.

jillian's living room with christmas tree
No reason to show this photo, other than I’m pretty proud of how nice my tree looks this year…and look! I dyed my sofa orange! 🙂

Anywho…hemming…

sewing bottom hem
Hemmmmm….

As I stitched away, I was filled with anxiety. My thread was running out. WOULD I MAKE IT? Or would I have to rethread????

spool low on thread
Suspenzo!

Fortunately, I had juuuuust enough thread to finish the job. Whew!

I gave my new dress a good press…

pressing bottom hem
Seriously. Look at my tree! 🙂

…and then headed off to the party!

Vintage Christmas Dress Refashion 6
Erin’s tree is also acceptable. 😉

My friends complimented me on my Austrian (?) garb, so methinks I failed fairly hard at my intended theme.

But I still think the frock looks cute. Whaddyasay?

Vintage Christmas Dress Refashion 7
Such handsome bearded gents!

I hope you enjoyed this festive trip down ReFashionista Lane! Merry Christmas to all!

Cheers!

Vintage Christmas Dress Refashion before and after
My New Blog: Chef & Pauper
Impressing the Parents with Thrift Store Decor!