DIY: Patterned Dress Into Patterned Skirt.

 

After the fiasco that was my last refashion (remember those lovely tan pants that I "Texas Chainsaw Massacred?"), I decided for my next project I'd do something ridiculously easy, just to get my mojo back. I chose this dress:

Where did my neck go?! I swear I have one!

I bought it several years ago from Family Dollar. It was $3.00, I think. Possibly $4.00. It was so long ago that I'm not sure. Anyway, I bought it without trying it on (huge no-no!!). It ended up fitting me so terribly that it just hung in my closet. I'd take it out once or twice in the summer months, decide I hated it, and throw it back in my closet.

Could I have found a less flattering dress for myself or what?!

It had an empire waist that is sometimes flattering on my figure, but with the plunging neckline, billowy skirt, huge armholes, and weird "sleeves" it just wasn't doing me any favors. Plus, there's that awkwardly placed yellow diamond pattern thing that covers my belly button like a bulls-eye! Not cool.

Quinn's toy cheerleading pom-poms are taking over my workspace!

All the offending parts of this dress are in the top portion, so I just cut that part off, above the elastic waistband.

Still using black thread, even though it doesn't quite match, because I am *that* scared of rethreading it!

I folded over my raw edge and sewed it up. That's it. That's all this dress needed. I threw around the idea of cutting below the elastic waistband and making a new waistband hidey-hole to put the elastic band back into. All that, just to make it a little shorter because the original waist fit right under my boobs and pushing it down to my actual waist would make it kinda long. I knew I wasn't going to make it any shorter by cutting/hemming the bottom since it had that cool pattern on the bottom. But I decided to go the easy route. When wearing it, I figured I could just hike it up (or down) in order to get the length I wanted on the skirt. This is what I was left with:

The yellow shoes were a recent thrift store find, too!

I am pretty pleased with my new skirt. With being able to pair the super busy pattern of the skirt with a plain top, I don't feel like it's too overwhelming. It adds just enough interest.

This is the end of my "Bend and Snap!"

I ended up with an item of clothing I would actually wear! I am only a little bummed out that it took me until mid-fall to refashion this blatantly summer dress. So, back in my closet it goes, but it's coming out the first nice day next year! I never thought I'd be excited to wear it!

I love how my leg looks broken in these photos! That's why I paired them together!