Friday, August 29, 2008

DEMO! Sun Dress Reconstruction

Yup, it's time for another DEMO - this one inspired by a commitment I made a month ago to not buy any new clothes for six months! I'm really wanting to embrace a consume less, create more mentality . . . but I love clothes. And I buy a lot of them. Like this stretchy knit sun dress from Target.

And some of them don't work out. Cute in the store, cute in the dressing room, not so much later on. A little too much arm showing, and well, hard to wear a bra under. Which I, er, need. But the fabric is pretty cool. And I liked the neckline and the dropped waist. So, I started cutting it apart.

DEMO: Sundress Reconstruction

So, this sun dress became a shirt! Poof! New clothes without buying any new clothes.


First, I cut the skirt off.


Then I cut the skirt in half - giving me what would become the two full sleeve parts.


I took the bottom of the skirt half, and lined the hemmed end up with the armholes of the dress.


I pinned the dress bottom/sleeves to the dress straps and the body of the dress. I didn't stitch the sleeve into a tube because I wanted to allow for the stretch in the fabric and make sure the sleeve lined up with the arm straps.


And I stitched the sleeve down - and then overlapped the edges so I could sew the arm up later.

Here, I've got both of the sleeves sewn onto the body of the garment, and the sleeves pinned into proper tubes. I did a top stitch on the right side of the garment.


Here, you can see the seam - and the hem on the sleeves.


I stitched the hem on the sleeves into a tube, and left a little slot open so that . . .

I could thread elastic through it! My favorite way to get elastic through a casing is to put a safety pin through the elastic and then use that to push through the casing.

Then I just tied the elastic in a square knot, and sealed up the casing.

Then I used a stitch ripper to take out the elastic that was putting gathers in the back of the dress.



Poof! It's a top! With sleeves!

And here I am! With upper arms fully covered - Phew! And I didn't have to buy a new shirt . . . one month down, five to go.

9 comments:

futuregirl said...

Awesome! It looks great on you, too.

Chance said...

Man, that is such a tremendous skill. You should be proud. I wish I could do that.

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

That's brilliant! I like your mentality......I just resign to wearing the same ol thing over and over again because I feel guilty about buying new stuff!

Maybe I need to learn to sew......a sewing machine is on my christmas wish list :o)

Geek+Nerd said...

Hey Bridget! Thanks for dropping by my blog. That's a great reconstruction that you've got there - I'm loving the fabric. Good luck with the next five months! I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Unknown said...

Looking good, you crafty citizen! The most I can do with most of my raggedy-ass clothing is add a patch.

claudia said...

oh wow, you look so cute with your new top :) wonderful :)

fingerstothebone said...

That is so very cool! And the new shirt looks great on you.

Rowena said...

Wow. That is so cool. I want to upcycle clothes so badly, but that would mean I have to get a sewing machine and then learn how to use it, and I have neither the time nor the money for that... I need projects that are done with a pair of scissors, and that's about it.

Penny L. Richards said...

Thank you for step-by-step on the sleeves--they always seem like an impossible mystery until I see something like this.

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