Dressember 2018; Dress 4

Hello Refashion Co-op. This is the fourth dress in my Dressember series. Blythe Hill founded this organization as a way to use her love of  fashion  to help others around the world.

This knit dress was so soft and cozy. It felt wonderful to wear.

The dress was a little big but it had this seam down the back. That seam was a perfect place to take some of the baggy-ness out of this dress.

I took out about 5" from the back and made the arm a little more narrow too. 

I didn't change the dress drastically, I just made it fit better. It was easy and fast work too. 

I even had time to "shrink" this purse. It was so deep, I couldn't find stuff at the bottom. I cut it up and put it back together. 

Thanks for reading along, you can see more at I Can Work With That.

Dressember 2018; Dress 3

Hello Refashion Co-op. This is the third dress in my Dressember series. Dressember is an amazing organization doing amazing work to fight human trafficking around the world. Dressember estimates that every 30 seconds someone somewhere becomes a slave. 71% are women and girls. That is why the focus is on dresses all month, to symbolize them.

I found this dress at a clothes swap and the graphic fabric really caught my eye. It was a great knit dress but the collar was just too much for me. Why would I want this collar up in  my face every second of the day? I couldn't deal with it.

I also shortened the sleeves and made a V-neck. I also shortened the over-all length. I just wanted to simplify the dress and keep the fabric the star. It didn't need all the ruffles. 

I wore this dress to church but I think it could be worn anywhere.

Thanks for reading along, for more pictures and details go to I Can Work With That.

Dressember 2018; Dress 2

Hello Refashion Co-op. I wanted to refashion dresses all month in honor of Dressember. Dressember is a way to raise awareness about human trafficking by wearing dresses everyday of December. A dresses symbolizes women because they are the primary victims.

Today's dress is a soft cozy sweater dress. It wasn't warm enough because the sleeves were short.

I wanted to make sleeves out of these over the knee socks. Could socks be sleeves? Sure, why not?

 I cut the short sleeves off the dress. I didn't remove the seams, I wanted to keep them to stabilize the armhole.

I cut the feet off the socks and then cut top of the socks in a curve that matched the shape of the sleeves I had just cut off. Was it exactly the same? No, but it was close.

   

 I stitched my new sleeves in place. It was easy to manipulate the knit fabrics together.

I used the stretchy cuff at the top of the sock and stitched it on at the neckline. It fit perfectly and made the neckline a bit higher. It also made it more secure so it didn't open as much when I bent down. 

And it also added a little more of the sock pattern to the dress and helped tie it all together.

I loved how it turned out.

I was warmer with the longer sleeves, I am so glad I tried it.

Thanks for reading along, for more pictures and details go to I Can Work With That.

The scarf tunic

Here's the story of a thrice-refashioned dress!

Before

It wasn't a terrible dress to begin with , but the left sleeve was almost sliced off, dangling from a strip at the wrist. I also didn't like the way it was longer in the front than the sides. That kind of fit is never flattering, IMO!

Refashion 1

I was forced to cut off the ends of both sleeves to get them to an equal length. The knit fabric didn't require any finishing after it was cut. While I was at it, I also cut the front to more or less follow the line of the bottom hem in the back. That was a mistake, because it made it so short I could no longer wear it as a dress. Even as a tunic, I felt it was too short in front.

Refashion 2 (not pictured)

I had a few yards of cheap black lace I'd ordered online for the express purpose of lengthening things that were too short, so I sewed it onto the bottom hem of the tunic. Unfortunately, it was so cheap that it had a stiffness to it that was entirely unsuitable! It didn't drape nicely, and it stuck to my legs and bunched up when I wore it over leggings. I picked off all the lace after my first wear. Lesson learned: if you find 5 yards of lace for 46 cents, you'll probably get what you pay for!

Refashion 3

For my second attempt at adding length to the front of the tunic, I thought I would insert a contrasting panel there, and on the sides for balance. I feel like I got this idea from something I saw on Refashion Co-op in the past, though I can't remember what or when, so here's a collective thank-you to all my fellow refashioners and your brilliant ideas!

I used a square scarf, which I'm reasonably certain was a Chanel knock-off. If it was a real Chanel, I still don't feel too bad for slicing it up, because I'd been trying to sell it for months with no takers.

When I was done, the tunic looked like this:

It took me three tries, but I finally had something I was comfortable wearing in public!

More details on my original blog post, which also happens to kick off a week-long series of outfits featuring butchered names of days of the week, if that's your cup of tea!

--The Unfashionista

Dressember 2018; Dress 1

Hello Refashion Co-op. It is December again and I am refashioning dresses all month in honor of Dressember. You can visit their site to learn more about this month long event to raise awareness about human trafficking.

My daughter is participating too. This tan shirt dress was hers. It was well-made but a little shapeless. It had no stretch so she couldn't tailor it too much. It would have made it very uncomfortable. It had to stay loose.

She removed the sleeves and finished the arm holes so it could be worn sleeveless or with a different shirt under it.

Next, she pinned a wide ribbon inside the dress at the waist to make a casing.

She used a narrow ribbon and threaded it through the casing to draw in the waist. She stitched the ends of the thin ribbon to the front of the dress to gather the waist in.

 I took this picture as she came home from work. She didn't like that but she does like her new sleeveless dress.

Thanks for reading along, for more pictures and details go to I Can Work With That.