Supermommy!...or not.: summer dress project

Monday, August 6, 2012

15 Minute Dress

Do you remember when broomstick skirts were so popular a few years back? I have quite a few in my closet and I do still wear the basic ones, but there are a few that just don't fit my style anymore.

Such as this bright pink skirt:

Princess saw it hanging out in the back of my closet one day while "helping" me put laundry away and fell in love with it. So naturally, I threw it in my upcycle pile and forgot about it until today.

My first step was to measure Princess from just below her armpits to a few inches below the knees. I roughly measured that length, plus a few inches for seam allowances, up from the bottom of the skirt and cut off the top. I also measured around her chest. Her measurement was 22", so I subtracted one inch to make sure the dress fit snugly around her chest and didn't fall down.

Next, I made a casing for the elastic by folding the top edge over about 1/4" and then over again about 1". I pinned and sewed the casing, leaving a 2" opening to put the elastic through.

Then, I threaded the elastic through the casing, using a safety pin. I sewed the opening shut and adjusted the fabric so it fell evenly all the way around.

If I'd left it like this, Princess would've had a new skirt!

I pulled the drawstring out of the original waistband of the skirt and cut it in half to use for the straps of the dress. Princess tried on the dress and I pinned the straps on where I wanted them to go. Then I took it away from her which made her really mad, and trimmed the straps so they didn't hang down.

This shows the straps pinned to the outside of the dress, but I did switch them around to the inside before sewing.

I folded the raw edges of the straps under and sewed a vertical line down each strap through the elastic. This made the straps more durable plus will hold the elastic in place so it doesn't slide around and get twisted in the wash.

Done! Fastest dress ever, probably because I didn't have to hem it, and the materials were already in my closet! If you don't have a broomstick or maxi skirt to upcycle, you can usually find them at thrift stores for a cheap price.

Princess likes to wear it over her petticoat dress or a shirt.

Perfect for twirling! The best thing about this dress is that Princess will be able to wear it for quite a few years. When it gets too short for her to wear as a dress, I can snip the straps off and she'll have a new skirt!

This post is linked up with "The Dress Project: Summer Challenge" at Bits and Pieces From My Life.

Thanks so much for visiting Supermommy!...Or Not. Please take a moment to "like" me on facebook"!

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Dress Project-Summer Challenge

One of my favorite bloggers, Kristin from Bits and Pieces From My Life, got this adorable dress as a hand-me-down from a cousin for her daughter and decided to alter it to fit each season. It just so happens that Princess also received the same dress as a hand-me-down from a friend, so naturally I "stole" Kristin's idea for sprucing it up once the original flower on the front lost its flair. The versatility of this dress makes it worth keeping in Princess's wardrobe. She's worn it as a sundress, over a shirt, and now wears it as a tunic length shirt over leggings or pants or over her petticoat dress.

The dress "Before"

The first step was to cut the threads holding the hot pink flower onto the dress.

The original flower. It looked cute at first, but was pretty droopy by the time I took it off.

Next, I marked out a buttonhole right where the flower had been attached. If your sewing machine has a buttonhole maker and you don't know how to use it, now is the perfect time to learn as the embellishments will cover any mistakes.

Done! The whole project took me less than 15 minutes from start to finish. Now I can clip any of Princess's hair accessories right in the buttonhole and have a new look everytime she wears the dress.