How to Make a Muumuu into a Dress

I loooove muumuus! Living in South Carolina means you have to prepare yourself (mentally and physically) for extreme heat and humidity.

Since muumuus are just about always made from soft lightweight fabrics, they’re perfect for our hot climate. And the bright splashy prints they typically contain? That’s just an added bonus!

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I haven’t found many muumuus while thrifting lately, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this one made its way to the $1 clearance rack!

In case you’re wondering, that stuff at my feet isn’t dirt (I clean my porch…I promise!). It’s POLLEN.

This is another thing one gets used to while living in Columbia SC. In a couple of weeks it (and my crazy allergies) should be (mostly) gone.

The print on this particular muumuu is fabulous. It also has a couple of nice embroidered details I love.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t go out in public in it as-is, regardless of how comfy I would be.

Here’s how to turn a muumuu into a day dress!

Unless you just want to wear a muumuu as a muumuu. in that case, youyou do youyou! 😉

First, I cut off the sleeves, leaving about 1/2″ of the original sleeves attached.

Normally, I take the time to remove the sleeves completely with my seam ripper, but I was in a hurry.

Cutting off the sleeves, rather than removing them completely saves a good bit of time, but the inside of the arm hole won’t look as nice when you’re done stitching it down.

Since no one is going to be looking at the inside of my dress except me, I went ahead and took this shortcut.

I folded that leftover bit under and secured it with my magical amazing sewing clips. You could also use pins for this, but clips are much easier.

Then, I stitched the fabric under.

I wanted to make sure that extra fabric on the inside wouldn’t flop out while I was wearing my dress, so I added a second layer of stitching next to the first one.

Now that my arm holes were done, it was time to get my future dress fitted!

I put my muumuu on my dress form and pinned the sides.

I had to be careful about how much I took my muumuu in, since there are no closures on the dress. A good rule of thumb is, if it comes on and off the dress form easily, it will come on and off you easily too!

When I was done pinning, my muumuu looked like this:

I ran each side of my muumuu through my machine and stitched my new side seams down.

Then I cut off the leftover fabric from each side.

I decided I didn’t like the length as-is, so I made a chop along the bottom as well.

I folded that bottom raw edge under twice about 1/4″ and secured it with my sewing clips.

Then, I sewed my new hem down!

To complete my muumuu-to-dress refashion, I pressed my new seams and hem, being careful of the heat setting.

I really really love my bright & happy new muumuu dress!

I even managed to find a mural that complemented the colors of my new frock!

I styled my new dress with a few thrifted accessories and a fave pair of square blue sunnies then headed off for a couple of afternoon beers with the Mr.!

Of course, Mr. Refashionista is the best accessory of all!

I hope if you find a muumuu in your thrifting adventures you’ll give it second look!

It just might end up being your favorite warm weather dress!

• You might also enjoy this vintage Hawaiian muumuu refashion.
• …or this muumuu-to-top refashion.
• Here’s a cute no-sew muumuu-to-dress refashion too!

Cheers!