DIY: A Better Fitting Brown Button Up Dress!

I bought this dress over a year ago with the intention of someday remaking it into a cute dress.

I'm amazed at how gorgeous I look in this ill-fitting dress.

I've followed a few fashion and re-fashion bloggers over the last year or so. Right away, I knew I wanted to be a part of that world. This dress was the perfect inspiration as it was only $0.50! Great price! If I screwed it up, I'd barely have wasted the cost of half a candy bar.

I like taking pictures of myself in the least flattering way.

It was so perfect. It was only a tiny bit too big. It was only 6 or so inches too long. It was missing it's belt, but who cares?! I was pretty sure, after much procrastinating, that I could turn this into something cuter. If not, I could always salvage the buttons for some other project.



Snip, snip little belt holders!!

Snip, snip long skirt that looks terrible on me.

OK, this is where I confess something that I *almost* screwed up. I *almost* cut the bottom of the dress off to the length that I wanted without taking into consideration that I'd need to hem it. *Almost!!* I can't believe I was so stupid. Luckily, I stopped myself and made sure to cut off 5 inches, instead of 7 inches!! Whew. Crisis averted!

I hate that my counter is the best place for this. I feel like I am constantly cleaning it!

Then I folded and pinned the raw edges. I was feeling pretty confident that everything was even because this part took me like 15 minutes to do. I was very thorough.

ZORRO!!!

I took the scrap that used to be the hem of my dress and decided it would make a great sash! I am a pro already!



Beautiful Sewing Machine, oh how I am learning to love our time together.

I sewed the sash and spent the next 10 minutes turning it inside out. Next time I will google "easy ways to turn sashes inside out" before I attempt that.

Quinn bugged me all morning to paint her "Doc McStuffins" cardboard canvas.

Uh-oh... Bored kids.. I knew I'd either have to start paying attention to them or figure out something fun for them to do. I put Mitchell's fave episode of "Bubble Guppies" on (the one called "Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish") and I set Quinn up at the kitchen table with me to finally let her paint this picture. She was thrilled beyond belief.

Hahah... Having a cute kid with me makes this even more fun!

With the kids all set for a few minutes, I sewed the hem and prayed that it didn't look like it was sewn by a blind monkey with no arms. *Fingers crossed!!*

We were done our projects at almost the same time!

Just one more picture of Quinn before I show off my awesome dress. Every other minute she would say to me, "Thank you so much for letting me paint, Mommy. I love you so much! I am so happy!" My heart melted all over the place. She's such a sweet kid.

Decided to change up my background for something more interesting.

And here we are, folks! I am actually really happy with the results this time around. I ended up with a great, flattering length. The hem looks great. The sash was the right length. Everything happened just the way I'd hoped.

Doing my best kiss face.

Oh, I almost forgot, the sleeves were just slightly bigger than I wanted so I also sewed them up from the armpit out, just to tighten them up a tad. It gave me just the effect I wanted.

Do I light up your life or what?! (-;

What a happy accident during my self-timed picture taking. The sunlight adds a little drama. I don't mind drama in pictures, just as long as there's no drama in the process!

She was really proud of her work, too!

Quinn wanted to show off her finished product with me. She deserves it! She did a great job; a little mini-Me in the making.

I'm getting good at these before/after collages, too.

I had so much fun that I can't wait to do this again! I have another couple of dresses in my closet that could benefit from a makeover, so stay tuned!!