Refashion

Last week I shared a super fun tutorial over at Seamingly Smitten for the Sew Chic Upcycling Week and I am re posting it here just in case you missed it!

Here is my

Old Skirt – New Dress Upcycle!

I picked this skirt up at the local thrift store for $4!

The front…

…the back…

I decided to make it into a dress because I am a dress kinda gal!

So, I pulled the skirt up and it was a little long for my 5’2 frame… so I grabbed a random sash out of my closet and tied it around my waist then I decided to chop 3 inches off the bottom of the dress.

Measure and cut 3 inches off the the bottom of the dress – straight across. (keep the part you cut off, we will use that in a minute!)

Unbutton the dress, fold the hem under about 1/4 inch then 1/4 inch again and stitch to create a nice, clean, finished hem.

After you are finished stitching your new hem, grab the piece of fabric you cut off. Put your machine on the longest stitch setting and sew straight down the RAW edge DO NOT backstitch - We are going to create a ruffle to go around the top of the dress! (I swear if everyone wore ruffles, this world would be a much happier place – ruffles rock!)

next pull ONE of the threads and create a nice ruffle.

Keep pulling and working the fabric until you have this:

Next pin the ruffle onto the top of the dress RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER with the ruffle UPSIDE down.

Like this:

Put your machine back to a normal stitch setting and sew the ruffle onto the top of the dress making sure to backstitch at the ends!

Now for the sash!

I wanted a fun color to “pop” with the busy black and white design on my new dress, so I picked out a turquoise color from my fabric stash…

Cut your fabric 60 inches long and 8 inches wide (this is the size I used for myself, you can add more or less to the length depending on your size) then fold it in half and iron.

Pin straight down the open end…

… and stitch HALFWAY down the open end making sure to backstitch at the beginning then in the middle of the sash. Cut your threads and leave about a 2 1/2 inch opening in the middle of the sash then continue your stitch making sure to BACKSTITCH at the beginning end end once again. (confused? – See next image…)