Wednesday 14 November 2012

From a Blouse to a Dress

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In action

Can you believe that this dress was once a blouse? I've been meaning to do this for so long, and finally got around to it last Friday. The blouse was mine, but it was too short (story of my life), so I never wore it. The dress is pretty short too, but that makes it really easy for her to monkey around in the back yard.

before&after2

I really like all the details with the inset lace and the pin-tucks. I love that I now have that effect on the front of the dress without all the effort!

I chopped the front of the dress from the front of the blouse. I really tried to line up the buttons down the centre front, but I mucked it up slightly. If I was doing this again, I would make up a full pattern, rather than trying to cut it on the fold.

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The back of the dress was cut from the back of the shirt, and I cut the facings from the sleeves. The pattern instructions only had you interface the facings at the top where the button holes and buttons go, but I interfaced the entire facings.

The pattern is Kwik Sew's 3211, which I believe is now out of print, but you could do the same with any number of basic pinafore type dresses - or even trace yourself a pattern from an existing dress.

New bloomers too

I also made Amélie some cute bloomers. The bloomers are cut from the Bettsy Kingston Baby Ruffle Pants pattern, but without the ruffles. I also used bias binding around the leg holes, as I find it a bit easier. You can get a pair of bloomers up to Amélie's size out of a fat quarter of fabric, so that's pretty awesome. Obviously, you need more fabric if you are going to add ruffles as well..

5 comments:

  1. What an adorable upcycle. Love the bloomers too :o)

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    1. Thank you. I've never really done this sort of thing before, so I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

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  2. It's gorgeous, and I am also impressed with the thrifty use of a fat quarter too!

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    1. Thank you, Tanya. I must admit, I was pretty excited to see that the pattern piece fit the fat quarter. It's an easy way to grab some pretty fabric here or there and know it will get used.

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  3. Love the idea of upcycling and this one is a great example. Well done!

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