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journalrefashion: skirt to dress
The August whiplash challenge is called ‘wardrobe surgery’ and involves refashioning an exisiting piece of clothing by deconstruction/reconstruction or embellishment/decoration.
I looked through my old clothes and found this long skirt that I used to love in the mid ’90s, but now it’s hopelessly high-waisted and really doesn’t do anything for my body type:
Yuck! I hope it didn’t always look this bad on me! It’s so unflattering…
Here it is laid out on the floor (inside out) so you can see the shape of it:
How did I turn this into the cute strapless dress shown below?
First I took in the side seams between the original waistband and the new hip area. I added two vertical darts at the front between the bust and waist to fit the bodice more closely, and then added two more vertical darts at the back from the shoulder blades to just below the waist, to fit the curve of my back.
I turned the old elasticated waistband inside the dress (which helps to keep it from falling down - always a risk with a strapless top), and took the bottom of the dress up by 12cm to bring it up to knee length. I used the excess fabric cut from the bottom of the dress to make straps, but the dress looked better without, so I removed them again. I was also considering making a fabric flower to accessorise, but I think the dress looks classy the way it is, so I’m going to keep it simple.
I love the fit of this dress! I can never buy dresses because of my pear-shaped figure, but this does exactly what a dress should do - fits around my top half, and floats over the areas I don’t want to emphasise. It took a lot of pinning and re-pinning (and in some cases unpicking seams and trying again) before I got the dress to fit like this, but it was worth it!
I’m entering this into the deconstruct/reconstruct category on whiplash.
Wendi Said,
August 7, 2006 @ 6:47 am
Wow! What a great job! And it looks fabulous on you!
susan Said,
August 9, 2006 @ 7:31 pm
Love it! you did a beautiful job and after seeing this example I wonder if I could do it! So great!
charlotte Said,
August 13, 2006 @ 2:32 am
it looks great!
bekka Said,
August 17, 2006 @ 2:36 pm
gosh, how lovely that came out. lucky you. or, clever you! i like it much better as a dress.
June Said,
August 17, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
Thank you all for the comments! This was my first attempt at altering clothing, except taking up trousers that are *always* too long for me, so I think anyone could do it, provided you have a) a decent sewing machine, and b) enough patience to keep trying it on (while avoiding being scratched by the pins) until the fit is perfect.
Oh, and my other top tip would be to measure across the width of the original skirt at several points to find the centre, and then, with a chalk pencil, draw the centre line all the way down the wrong side of the fabric (inside of the skirt). That way you can make sure your darts match on each side, by making them the same distance away from the centre line.
Regina Said,
August 18, 2006 @ 12:26 am
Very well done- It is very classy and ellegant!
Kelly Said,
August 20, 2006 @ 1:44 am
Wow!!! You did a Great job! I have several old skirts like yours, and I have kept them because the fabric is so pretty that I couldnt bear to get rid of them! What a perfect idea, and it does look very flattering on you.!!
Eddy Said,
June 7, 2008 @ 3:05 am
you are absolutely creative. that skirt on your beautiful figure makes me attracted to you. it makes you sexy!!!
Robinsbluegg Said,
July 27, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
Your reconstruction of that skirt was so inspiring. Today someone gave me a huge pile of hand-me-downs,including some skirts similar to yours and I hope I can be as creative as you!
meli Said,
August 23, 2008 @ 3:51 am
Lovely dresses! I’m also a pear. (What a fantastic fruit. Dried pears in baked goods? Wow…) Btw, as such, I’m quite partial to baby dollish or empire waist. I’ve seen some tanks and dresses with bodice/straps replaced with colorful crochet. Fuuun, and a way to fix a beloved item that may not quite fit up top. But I digress…great dresses!
mary Said,
November 18, 2008 @ 7:38 pm
very very lovely dress u got there i like it in a dress than a long skirt…
Alex Said,
December 26, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
i want to do this exact thing with an old skirt of mine!
i just dont know how to do it!