Refashioned summer dress

Refashioned summer dress

by Franca on 8 August 2019

I made this dress out of a dress I’ve held onto for ages to use for fabric. I actually can’t remember where I got it from – I had it in my head that my friend had worn it to my fancy dress 30th birthday, but actually I’ve checked pictures and that was a different one. So it is a mystery! No photographic evidence of me wearing it ever either, it had a gathered skirt and slightly longer sleeves before.

Anyway, it’s been in the bottom of my wardrobe for ages! The fabric is nice, viscose probably, and the original dress is handmade. I finally chopped into it thinking I was just going to take the skirt off and hem the bodice into a top, but it then turned out that that was far to short. You can see the join in the pictures. I then thought I would lengthen it into a top, and added fabric quite randomly, without measuring. Except them it turned out it was dress length and I quite liked it!

Its a wee bit snug around the thighs/bum, so I wont be able to wear it over trousers, and you can bet I’m kicking myself for not measuring and adding just a bit more fabric! But for wearing on its own it’s fine, so that’s what I did while on holiday, and I’ll probably shorten it to tunic length later so I can wear it with jeans.

I also shortened the sleeves a bit as they were cutting at an unflatteriung point on my arm. I might shorten them a bit more actually