Upcycling a favored, too tight dress into something else

5 photos for those who just want to see the pictures

There’s recycling, repurposing, upcycling (rru). Each has a little bit to do with the other. Without being so technical and precise, my own definition is;

    “To take something that was one thing and do something else with it.” 

 That definition will cover it all.

I’m not new to  rru. I’ve tried it before. (Take a look at the 7th picture in that post) If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know that I’m into the recycling thing and not being wasteful.

I’m also a fan of the boho   style. I had a purple dress that had always been a favorite of mine. I purchased it from a street vendor during a Juneteenth celebration held outside of the Civil Rights Institute here in Birmingham, Alabama.  I tried it on right over my street clothes and it fit.  I altered the yoke of the dress since I claim 5’4 as my height. Otherwise, it would drag the ground.

Being my definition of a shapeshifter*, the dress became a little snug in the bosom area and I had to put it to the side. 

 Visiting Pinterest, I came upon various pictures of clothing that had been upcycled.  My plan was to cut off the top, keep the bottom, sew the bottom to a purple tee shirt, thereby making a new dress, then DYE the whole garment purple. 

First off, the tee shirt was too big. But it was only 99 cents. $1.09 with tax. I bought it big because I wanted to make sure I had enough fabric to work with. I didn't overlook that there were stains on the sleeves when I bought it. I'd cut that part off and rework it.

 I sewed the top and bottom together, had a gap, SOOOO then I chose to put elastic in the waist. Fit just fine. BUT…

The tee shirt sleeves and side were fuller than I wanted them.

 I put numerous darts in the front and back of the tee shirt. THEN

The sleeves were too full. I adjusted them and didn’t like the outcome.

Finally, I cut off the tee shirt, removed the ¼ inch elastic from the waist, and saved it. (The elastic was brand new) , made a casing in the skirt and fitted it with ½ elastic.

Now I have a perfectly good skirt that fits comfortably. The dye job will have to wait.

You want to know what happened to the tee shirt?

*My definition of shapeshifter - gain weight, lose weight. Gain weight, lose weight…

HOWEVER! To be fair, the original dress DID shrink even more after I washed it and put it in the dryer. (Not wise)

END***

Sewing a Skirt

Since I haven't done any "people" sewing in a very long time (think years), I thought I'd try my hand at it. Taking a cue from other sewing blogs I've visited, I also attempted to make a muslin pattern.  I fashioned it after a paper pattern I've had a number of years that I knew was too small.



Muslin pattern for skirt

I wanted pockets so I made them freehand. I have never been able to  measure patterns correctly. (I must have been absent on the day of that class) After basting the muslin together and trying it on, it seemed too small. As you can see I added another piece to the side seams. Turns out, I didn't need it and the skirt was waaaay toooo big.

This fabric is a polyester, orange and purple tweed




 

Here is the finished skirt laying flat...

and hanging.

This project didn't go as well as I would have liked. As you can see I ended up putting a folded seam down the front.  I'd had this fabric for at least 18 months. I was attracted to it by its tweedy look. The fabric ravels something terrible. I didn't bother to line it since this is an attempt at something I haven't done in a long while. For me sewing is not like riding a bicycle. I need to relearn this.

THAT'S IT***