From a Blouse to a Dress

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.



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.



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.



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..