"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...