Thursday, July 21, 2016

Bulky Dress to Cute Summer Outfit





   Besides having no shape, this dress was also very long: it hung down to my ankles! It was basically a tube with arm holes and a zipper.






   About that zipper, it was on the side of the dress. This would make it difficult for me to take in the dress from the sides. 





   I decided the zipper would serve me best if I moved it to the back of the dress. So out came the thread picker and off came the zipper.





   Then I re-sewed the seam from where I had taken the zipper.





   Before moving the zipper, I figured it'd be easiest if I first cut off the top of the dress, inserted the zipper in the back, took in what was necessary, then reattached the skirt part to the top. That way, I could put pleats in the skirt part to make it flare out some. So I tried on the dress, marked where my waist was, and cut straight across.



The cut wasn't quite straight so I had to do a little trimming. Oh well, live and learn. :)




   The dress had a seam in the back so I picked it apart and inserted the zipper.








   Since the space just above where the seam is didn't quite close all the way, I sewed on a small clasp.





   I had to take in about 1 1/2 inches from the sides of the top.





   With the top part done, I moved on to the skirt part. There were two darts in the back which I took out to give additional room for the pleats.






   It took quite a bit of adjusting and readjusting to get the pleats to line up properly with the existing seams on the top part. But once they were in place, I pinned the skirt to the top and sewed.







   Next up, hemming the skirt. I had to take off about a foot of material.






   Using the fabric I cut off from the hem, I decided to make a bow belt to go with my new dress. First I sewed the ends of two rectangular pieces of fabric together. 




   Then I folded it over (inside-out of course), sewed the open ends together, and turned it right side in.






   I measured the belt around the waist of the dress and cut off the excess.




   To make the ends of the belt pointed, I tucked in the corners, pinned in place, and sewed all around the perimeter of the belt.






   For the bow, I selected a piece of fabric about 4" wide, 10" long and sewed it into a loop. I did the same with another piece of fabric about 1 1/2" wide and long. 





   Taking the bow, I folded the end into an accordion shape, slipped the smaller loop over it, and centered it.







   The bow then was sewed onto the belt.





   Lastly, I attached a snap to the two ends of the belt.







   The dress is complete!








~Gloria





15 comments:

  1. YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD SEAMSTRESS!!! Some of my friends are really interested in sewing too, and I'm just like, "Dude, y'all have patience." xD or something like that.
    I love how you made the dress really trendy and cute and nice for the summertime. Good job!!

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    1. Haha thanks! To be honest, it's mostly trial and error. I had to redo several parts multiple times over. But I'm happy with the way it turned out. :)

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  2. This is super cute! It looks amazing on you :)

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  3. Wow! This dress basically saw a miracle. Great job, Gloria, it looks awesome! I would never have the patience for this! The poor dress would most likely have been sent to the thrift store instead of rescued, had it happened into my hands. It is very fortunate you found it. :)

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    1. Hehe, you flatter me! :P To be honest, I think the sewing gene runs in the family. My grandmother and my great grandfather were professional seamsters.

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  4. I do not have that patience or skill. At all. Thankful that there are people in this world who do! Like beautiful Gloria :)

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    1. Tehehe, you're too sweet! You can, however, crochet! That's something I really don't have the patience for.

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  5. You did such a marvelous job remaking that dress.....I absolutely LOVE it, not to mention the adorable bow! :) How I wish I could sew....I have only sewed a few items, but with help. I don't know if our sewing machine is working properly right now or not, though. Every time I try to use it the yearn gets stuck, or the material bunches up.......it gets a little frustrating. ;)
    I'm glad you can sew wonderfully, though. :)

    Love,
    Ashley
    ashleysyarnworks.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Ashley! Our machine wasn't working for a while too. After having it fixed multiple times but without much improvement, we eventually got a new one. It works flawlessly, for which I'm very grateful!

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  6. You are a great designer, Gloria. That is wonderful!
    I have had a similar experience with a dress. So I can tell how much talented you must be to make it. Keep up your work.

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  7. I have express a few of the articles on your website now, and I really like your style of blogging. I added it to my favorite’s blog site list and will be checking back soon… sunglasses for summer

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