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Sunday, November 16, 2014

80's Dress to Hi-Lo Skirt Refashion

Greetings good people :]

I know that I've been pretty absent lately, and that makes me mega-sad, but hopefully I can do something about that! A lot has happened for me personally over the past... however long it's been, including moving away from all my people, getting my first big-kid post-grad job, and other various hiccups that come along with living in the real world.

But I have been at least somewhat creative in the meantime!

For example, I have done a few refashions, as well as worked on a few art pieces, which I hope to share some time soonly. In the mean time, here's a thing that I did manage to work up:


80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

Gosh, I do love me some ridiculous 80's patterns [as well as giant 80's hair, which I decided to rock today]. They're just so ridiculously fab, how could you not love... whatever that is?

This refashion was not what I initially intended it to be. Originally, I thought that I was just going to keep it a dress because I loved that great gold button at the collar, but, well.. you'll see.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

I started off by taking out the shoulder pads because while the linebacker look is great, it's just not my deal.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

Then I started cutting off one of the arms of the dress following the curve of the weird shoulder-region.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

When I got to the other sleeve though, I ran into a major snag. I got a little zesty with the scissors and cut the curve way too far, practically all the way to where the buttons are. Oops. Wild woman over here. So I decided to go a different route because yay problem-solving.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

I decided that this dress actually wanted to be a skirt the entire time, so I gave into its wishes and cut the whole bottom of the dress off.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

I then folded it my raw edge over once very small-like and sewed that down. I then folded it over again to create a casing for some elastic to be threaded through. I left a small section open though so that I could put the elastic in.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

I measured a piece of 1" elastic around my waist so that it was comfortable, then added about an extra inch to that measurement so that I'd have a seam allowance.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

I threaded the elastic through the hole in the casing, then sewed the two ends of the elastic together...

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

...and then I closed the hole in the casing.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

All I had left to do was give my skirt a subtle hi-lo hemline by folding the skirt in half and cutting the hem on a slight curved angle. Then I hemmed up my raw edge and BOOM. Done.

80's Dress to Skirt Refashion

Although this refashion wasn't what I expected or intended, I quite like the result! The hi-lo effect is not over the top, so I kind of like the subtlety of it all. I guess this refashion was just one of those happy accidents :]

So, any other accidental refashions out there?
I'll be linkin' mine up, for sure
x x x

18 comments:

  1. Wow, I love what you've done with this skirt, it looks like something you could go out and buy. It looks great with the cream sweater too. I think the dress wanted to be a skirt all along.

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    1. Thanks so much! I'm glad you agree-- that dress TOTALLY wanted to be a skirt.

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  2. I did have this dress in the eighties - it was my go-to dress for parent-teacher day at school! Amazing job refashioning the dress into a skirt. Thank you sharing this idea at Make it Monday!

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    1. You had this dress?? That makes me so incredibly happy, like you don't even know! Thanks for letting me share!

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  3. I'm glad you listened to the dress and respected it's wishes to become a skirt!
    The 80's were a pretty fab time for fashion, but this is even better!

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    1. Agreed! The 80's were seriously one of the best times for fashion.

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  4. Way to "Make it Work"! I love it as a skirt :) Thanks so much for sharing at the Make it Monday Party! Hope to see you again next week.

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    1. Please don't forget to add our button or link to our party so that I can feature your project~ Thanks!

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    2. Thanks for putting on the party! I linked at the bottom!

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  5. This is super cute!! Thank you for sharing. You are one of the features today at the Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Here is the link to this week's bash. http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2014/11/make-it-pretty-monday-week-121.html Hope to see your prettiness again at the party. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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    1. Thanks so much for the feature! I really appreciate it!

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  6. Adorable skirt! Thanks for sharing at Whatever Goes Wednesday. This was the most viewed link at last week's party, so we'll be featuring your skirt at tomorrow's party. Hope you'll stop by and party with us again tomorrow!

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  7. Looks great! The 80s did have some awesome patterns :D

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  8. This is fabulous! I love it. Pinned and tweeted. Thanks for being a part of our party! I hope you stop by on Monday at 7 pm. We love to party with you. Merry Christmas! Lou Lou Girls

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