Upcycling an Ugly Dress into a Smashing Shirt

I found this dress at the Salvation Army.  The top part of the dress left much to be desired.  The designer obviously thought it was fashionable, but the fit was not right.  But the bottom … what a great material!  Reminded me of handkerchiefs.  Upcycling this into something better should be easy.

making an ugly dress into a great shirt

Don’t you think that material is great?

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

I machine-basted the bottom together, so it wouldn’t wiggle around on me while I worked.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

Separate the top from the bottom.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

The actual construction of the shirt was fairly simple using satin quilt binding.  The only problem that I had was ironing out the binding itself.  For this, I used a metal ruler (it was really hot, so be careful when touching the metal after ironing it!!), sliding the ruler out and ironing some more.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

Pin it together.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

This created the hem on the outside of the shirt.  Putting the right sides together, I hand-basted the collar to the shirt.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

And I got this.  Now it’s folded over.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

So I can machine sew it into place.  This gives me a single blind stitch.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

I started on the “V” part of the shirt.  There isn’t one, so attaching the binding created one.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

I’m going to have to hand-stitch this into place, and then machine-stitch on top of it.

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

Next time, I want to think about turning the collar at the shoulders, so it doesn’t seem like I have a bulky collar in the back.  Maybe two more “V”s at the shoulders.  But I’m decidedly very happy with my refashion!

Remaking a Dress Into a Skirt

 

With love,


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Let me know what you think in the comments.


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