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!

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

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:

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.

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.

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.


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

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


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

Anywho…hemming…

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

Fortunately, I had juuuuust enough thread to finish the job. Whew!
I gave my new dress a good press…

…and then headed off to the party!

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?

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