Formula

The deadline to finish my vintage dress project looms (the owner of the shop returns mid-April and opens for the season shortly after.) I know there is a lot of flexibility on her part but if I don't have a deadline (even if it's self-imposed) I'll never finish. So, out came another dress.

I stared at this one for a couple of days trying to decide what to do. In the end I went with a short little sundress, much like the others. (You can see them here, here, here, here and here.)

I thought I would keep the bodice yellow and cut the skirt short to eliminate the flowers.

When I arranged it this way it looked pretty boring so I kept the flowers and yellow hemline, and eliminated the yellow bodice.

I think this was the right way to go. It's pretty, girly and summery.

I added a lining to the bodice and sewed the old label back on.

I also reused the yellow zipper (sorry for the blurry shot.) Another one down...just a couple left! Thanks for looking:)

A Shifty One

Oh, this one nearly drove me nuts. I had planned on an easy re-do of this long floral dress (80's maybe?) I had plenty of fabric to work with though there were some tears and stains to work around.

The fabric was on the thin side and very "flowy".

And a little crinkly even after ironing with a steam iron - which is a nice texture but it makes it hard to work with! It shifted all over the place and nearly drove me crazy.

A few repairs here and there were called for. This one fell right in the middle of one of the front seams.

I had a tunic in mind rather than a dress, this hits about mid-thigh.

I love pin tucks and they look nice with this type of fabric. The front looks a teeny bit funny because I had to leave the original seams in place and sew tucks over them which created a bit of bulk but not too bad. There's a zipper up the left side.

A pretty tie in back gives it a nice shape.

Overall I like the outcome but I don't think I'll be hunting for this type of fabric anytime soon. It was so slippery and unwieldy!

Another one done out of the pile. Only three (?) left! I may need to go thrifting soon...

Miami Dress

"Welcome to Miami, bienvenido a Miami..." (Will Smith, anyone?)

Another dress out of my pile, another love/hate relationship with the print. This one is so bright that I couldn't quite capture the true color with my camera.

The yellow is a little brighter in person and the orange is a true "traffic cone" orange. The fabric is a densely woven cotton blend of some sort, unlined. It was a pretty big dress so I had plenty of fabric to work with.

I was intrigued by the prairie point detail around the neckline - it took someone awhile to space those so evenly. They might be cute at the bottom of a skirt or on the cuffs of jacket? No?

I removed this label and reattached it to the new lining.

Like the last printed dress this one needed some solid to break it up. Trying to match the orange was a challenge. I thought I might have to steal some crossing guard vests but I found a cotton that was pretty close.

I cut the waistband on the bias but it may not have been the right choice. There are some wrinkles and a little stretching that bother me.

I love this style of neckline. I think it can be so flattering and elegant (even with this crazy print.)

I reused the zipper but I still need to find the right buttons for the closure on the neckline. I like the result and would happily wear it out dancing in Miami if it weren't a size too small!

70's purists may want to look away...

So I'm not sure if I'm committing a crime of sorts by cutting up these vintage dresses. Part of me feels like I'm taking apart a piece of history that should be preserved. Anyone care to weigh in? The back story is that the owner of the dress shop buys these dresses in bulk lots. Apparently she doesn't even really look at all of them, just buys by weight. Then she sorts through them to pick out the ones she can sell as is, some she throws out if they are in really bad condition, and the ones in between she gives to me. So far I haven't worried too much about completely restyling them using this sundress pattern but I'm sure some would say I should try to preserve the style.

At any rate, I pulled another one from the pile and stated ripping seams.

When I first saw this one I thought it was beyond hideous. The print was dizzying, the fabric was thin and had a strange orange tinge to it, and it was narrow so there wasn't a heck of a lot of fabric to work with.

There was plenty of fabric in the collar though! Once I took it apart I found that it was made of two layers of fabric - the underlining was a sheer orange fabric (cotton blend maybe?) hence the strange orange glow to the dress. I removed it and replaced it with a white cotton to brighten up the pattern (which actually started to grow on me.)

It seemed to need something to "ground" it so I added a gray band at the bottom and a little ruffle along the top.

The print is really quite pretty, I think.

The band also added length (I was running out of fabric) and it weighs the skirt down nicely.

I brought it outside to try to get it in a better light. The people at the post office next door wonder about me, I'm sure.

Blue Gingham

I felt like it was time to rework another dress. I have about 10 or 12 left to do with a deadline of April so I'm trying to stay on track. Next up was a blue gingham high-necked dress made from very thin cotton - almost felt like I should line it but I didn't. It had a bit of "Little House" appeal to it so I felt a little bad cutting it up.

The front opened at the buttons along the left side.

The waist was just a thin elastic sewed to the inside. It was losing it's elasticity so I replaced it with a new one.

I decided to take apart the front and move both the ruffles and the buttons to the center of the bodice.

I also took it in a few inches and lowered the neckline. I used bias tape on the insides of the neckline and armholes rather than make facings. Finally I shortened the skirt by a few inches.

I think the result is cute and definitely wearable.

My Lola seems to like it!

Refashion Bandwagon

A new year, a new blog. Hooray! I thought a good way to start would be to share my vintage dress refashion project. I've been commissioned by a dress shop in town to alter a pile of vintage dresses to make them more wearable (some are posing a bigger challenge than others!) Here are two of the more successful 'make-overs'.

This one was made out of a thin-ish unlined cotton. The leaf pattern (which I kind of like) was actually textured - almost like it was embossed. There was plenty of material to work with.

So I lined it with a white cotton (muslin, I think, so it wouldn't be too thick), gave it a sweetheart neckline with white ruffle, and a simple gathered skirt.

I was pleased with this one so I decided to take the same approach with the next. (Oh this one was in a sad state!) I was a little limited because I was working around a couple of stains and tears.

I like the way this one turned too. I didn't have quite enough material for the straps so I used some gathered organza as a halter instead.

Rather spring-like, I think!

I've seen (and been inspired by) so many of these types of refashions online lately. I know this is nothing new but I thought it would be fun to share mine. There are more to come!