"Retro Gardens" Dress Refashion

Sorry for my absence lately, I've just been super busy with school, and just life in general. I sewed this awhile ago, but just got the chance to post it up. I got this at a thrift store for around $2 and I fell in love with the fabric, so I decided to make it shorter and add some sleeves. 

Here's what it looked like originally. 

It even included a cute little belt! 

Here's what I did: 

1. First, I measured how much I wanted to cut it.

2. I cut across and saved the panel for future projects. You never know when something might come in handy!

3. The dress was a bit big, so I took it in from the sides. 

4. I experimented with the sleeves. I wanted ruched sleeves, so I cut out two rectangles, about 9x9 inches. 

5. I sewed a basting stitch along the edges and gathered the rectangles. 

6. Next, I pinned the rectangles (sleeves) to make sure this would work. After, I unpinned them and pinned them again (right sides of fabric together), and sewed on the sleeves. I cut the remaining fabric from inside. 

7. To make the lace fabric fit in more with the dress, I added in a little ruffle to the neckline. After that I just hemmed the sweep and I was done!

Finished product...

"Playful Playing Playtime" Dress Refashion

It's been a busy week! I'm on my second to last quarter at FIDM, and anyone who attends or has attended FIDM knows the massive workload we get! I finally had time to sew and post up a new refashion. :)

This dress reminded me of a bunch of school kids playing endlessly on the playground with no worries. I couldn't pick just one "play" word, so I thought why not bunch them all together???

I got this dress at a thrift store (3/4 of my closet came from a thrift store LOL). It is a kid's dress, but it's a pretty big size so it could be classified as a junior's small. I fell in love with it from the moment I saw it! 

I added sleeves and also a scalloped hem. 

The picture below shows how I added sleeves. Fold and trace along the armhole and leave a little piece at the end. Sew and hem.  

I researched how to make a scalloped hem and there's a ton of tutorials. Just google "scallop hem" and you'll find alot of resources. The pictures below are just a mini recap of everything I learned from those tutorials.

Add in extra seam allowance to the bottom of your hem. Fold up towards the right side of the fabric. 

Next, draw out your scallops.

Sew on the scallops you just drew. 

Afterwards cut along the edge of the scallops and turn inside out. Use a blind hem or stitch across to keep your scallops from turning over. (Not pictured)

Don't make mistakes like this LOL. 

Final garment...