dress refashion

Have you ever done a dress refashion? Taking a dress that you already have and “chopping” it up to make something else?

Like maybe you just don’t feel inspired with one of the pattern designs of a dress you have been wearing.

Or maybe the dress doesn’t fit how you would like. Try making some design changes to give it a better fit.

I didn’t like one of my dresses very much and therefore didn’t wear it a lot. Inspiration suddenly hit to refashion this dress!

So I made some easy changes. And now I love it!

Follow me in this little journey and maybe it can inspire you to do the same. Or to do something different the next time you sew a new dress!

Dress refashion brainstorm

Like I said before, I just didn’t wear this dress much because it just didn’t make me feel right. It fit and everything, but I just felt frumpy in it.

And this dress wasn’t even worn out! So refashion seemed to be the answer.

I decided to cut off the border from the bottom of the skirt and do something a bit different there. It’s a bit hard to see the border in this picture. This is The Elizabeth Dress pattern from the shop.

I thought I would use the border fabric to make something else. Like a topstitched casing and spaghetti belt.

I also decided to take off the cowl so that the dress would be wearable all year round.

And the sleeves needed a new detail, so I decided to sew a couple stitching lines using elastic thread.

Getting started

It’s really kind of scary making that first cut because you know after that there is no turning back!

But just go ahead and start! You can always use your great imagination to create something else if the idea you had in mind didn’t turn out.

I used what I had from “chopping” up my dress but feel free to use other materials as well to create what you have in mind.

The process

First, I wrapped the border of the skirt around the bottom seam and stitched in the ditch to create a sort of binding. I cut off the extra fabric and set aside.

Later I took off the binding completely and added a ruffle using the cowl fabric since the dress ended up shorter than I wanted.

Next, I did basically the same with the cowl, wrapping it around the neckline seam and stitched in the ditch creating a neck binding.

Then I cut off the extra cowl fabric and the neckline was complete!

After that, the border piece was cut to create a topstitched casing around the waist and a spaghetti belt was made from the old hem at the bottom of the border.

Last of all, I stitched a couple lines of stitching up the middle of the sleeve using elastic thread in my bobbin, creating gathered stitching for a new look.

And that’s it!

You might be a bit afraid to start a project like this. But you know what? If you haven’t been wearing the dress because you didn’t like it, and it’s got some wear out of it, just get started. You can always give it away or refashion it for someone else!

I hope you have gleaned a little in any sewing you have to do in the future!

Have you done any refashions that you have done lately? I would love to hear them! Feel free to leave it in the comments below!