Happy Thanksgiving Romper to Dress DIY

Living in the south means we get several really warm days well into late fall and winter.

I LOVE this, as I hate being cold, but it sometimes makes it challenging to put together an outfit that feels “fall” while still dressing appropriately for the weather.

When I found this romper months ago, I knew I wanted to turn it into a dress, but I wasn’t quite sure when I’d do so.

A quick check of the weather forecast for Thanksgiving revealed temps would be in the mid-70’s.

I decided it was time for some romper to dress DIY action!

Want to refashion a dress into a romper instead? I’ve got you covered!

Before I got to the de-rompering part, I first dyed my romper a more autumnal hue.

I chose a mix of these two dyes.

I prepped my dye bath according to the instructions on the bottle, and submerged my romper for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After the 40 minutes were up, I dumped out the dye and rinsed my romper in my washing machine using the permanent press cycle with cold water.

Turning a romper into a dress is easy.

I woke up Thanksgiving morning at 5am(!!!!!) to finish my refashion, since I’d also need to help get the house ready for Brian’s parents who would be joining us for our Turkey Day meal. 🙂

I made myself an eggnog latte (a holiday favorite of mine), and got to ripping!

I picked open the crotch and inside legs of the romper.

When I was done, I put the romper on my dress form inside out and pinned the new bottom front and back of my soon-to-be dress.

Here’s what it looked like from the front:

And here’s the back:

While my dress was on my dress form, I went ahead and pinned the sides as well.

As this dress was for Thanksgiving, I left it fairly roomy, especially in the waist to make room for all the tasty noms I’d be consuming.

As I pinned, I noticed there were a few small holes I hadn’t noticed before!

I grabbed a needle and thread and got to mending!

I took my dress off my dress form and got to work stitching the pinned parts down.

First, I sewed the front and back.

Then, I sewed the sides.

I cut off the excess fabric.

Now for the bottom hem!

Reworking the front and back of the romper meant my dress’ hem was now an uneven mess.

Not to worry!

I cut a straight line across the bottom of my dress.

Then, I folded the bottom under and pinned it.

I stitched my new hem down.

If you look back at the before pic for this one, you’ll notice the back has a couple of tie thingies on the back which I didn’t really care for. So, I carefully snipped them out!

Now I have a Thanksgiving dress I’m truly thankful for!

I’m glad I went free-waisted with one!

I styled my new dress with my pixie wig (Hello, Liza), a pair of burgundy boots, a beaded choker, and a favorite pair of burgundy earrings.

I think my dress puts off some serious fall vibes. Do you?

I really love the collar on this one too!

My dress and I enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving feast (mostly prepared by the talented Mr. Refashionista).

Somehow I completely failed to take any food photos, and very few other pics (There is no photo evidence of Brian’s dad being present, but I assure you he was) 😉 so you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

While we sadly didn’t get to make our usual trek to Baltimore to spend the holiday with Mr. Refashionista’s sister’s fam, Mr. R’s parents were able to join us for a smaller (but still lovely) celebration. FYI…We’re in regular contact with them as they live nearby. Don’t worry…we’re being safe!

Hopefully things will be a little more normal next year. 🙂

I hope all of you had a safe and happy Thanksgiving! I’m so grateful for all of you. You let me share my weird thrifty passions with you (and are pretty nice about it), and that means more than I could ever express.

Cheers!