The Bad Plaid School Teacher Dress!

Greetings! I was one of the lucky people to get picked to be part of Season Two of Refashion Runway! Yay! I am furiously refashioning for the weekly challenges. This week has been hard- I live in D.C. and in the wake of the shootings has everyone here on edge! But I managed to make a new fabulous new dress!

First, I found this homesewers dress at Goodwill. I knew someone made this due to the fact there were no tags, and the way it was finished on the inside (i.e. no serging). The only word I could come up with was.... BAD school teacher dress. B/c I promise you that one of my teachers in school had this exact same dress. But I love the colors!

Big long maxi skirt? Overall bib-like top? Buttons? Huge pockets? I mean what is not to love? ;)

The first challenge is plaid and this was my dress!! So trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it, I took my seam ripper and went to town. Luckily the front and back of the bib was double sided with the same fabric. I used both backs to create the main bodice. I used the long arm holes to create the one shoulder line. The old neckline is actually the arm holes. I used the front part of the old bib to fill in the gaps in the bodice and finish it. And yes I even attempted to match and line up the plaid (especially for the front of the dress). I removed the pockets which were seamed into the side seam. They actually were tacked down so tightly to the old dress they left holes in the skirt. I had to cut them out of the skirt and set up new seams. The skirt was obviously shortened and I used the leftover fabric to create what I can only call "tulip flower petals". Basically just an overlay to the skirt. I wanted a different dress! I connected my bodice to my skirt and the overlay and added a zipper. Now I went back and forth whether I wanted to make a plaid belt but it was just too much plaid. I used a sash I made in the past for another refashion b/c it was the perfect color. Here is my new dress!!

I am actually shocked b/c I used zero patterns of course for this (not allowed). I draped it on my dress form and I had some issues and then it hit me I'm draping on the bias-DUH! The bodice isn't lopsided. actually nothing is lopsided. I am shocked and pleasantly happy. For my entire process check out my blog here to see everything. And I knew this dress was a hit when my boyfriend came home and I was done taking pictures, he said WOW! And then twirled me around. :)

Now the competition starts today. Check out The Renegade Seamstress to view all the entrants. And if you happen to love my dress then I encourage you to vote! :) I have some tough competition! Good luck to the other contestants!

Cheers,

Lauren