Dress to top refashion

 

Dress before any work

A friend gave me a number of items to refashion, one of them was this dress.

The fabric was a very light and stretchy 96% viscose 4% elastane, made in India.

 

The maker was the Spanish brand Indiwoman by individual.

My friend said she liked the fabric of this dress but it didn’t hang right, and when I tried it on I could see what she meant.

While not terrible, it was a bit too short and had an unflattering belly area.  Also while I do like a wrap top I usually end up sewing them shut to avoid the inevitable bra revealing gape.

The shoulders and sleeves were good so I was going to keep them.

First stage was to unpick the seam at the waist to free up the top section.

I sewed the wrap front shut to make a regular V neck and trimmed off the excess.

Let me say now, I strongly believe in trying on at every stage of a refashion.  When I don’t try on I make mistakes.  I must have tried this top on about 20 times during the course of the refashion process and don’t regret any of them.

I was hoping to make a dress by adding an alternative skirt section.  This was mainly because I already have a lot of tops.

I auditioned a rather attractive table runner  bought in a jumble sale a couple of years ago.

Although tempted, and the resulting dress would have been dramatic, in the end I decided that because the fabric of the original dress was so light, there was a danger of it being pulled down by the weight of any heavier fabric.  I also may not be brave enough to wear a table cloth out to dinner.

So it had to be a top.

I cut off the bottom section of the dress below the pockets.  I know pockets are useful but not in a top.

Then sewed the bottom of the dress onto the now closed upper section, trimming some length and width to make it the right size.

I tried this new top on and it looked OK but a bit boring.

I rummaged in my stash for this trim, previously removed from a skirt waistband.

I draped it around the neck and it looked good, especially the way the point fitted the middle of the V.

After a few goes to get the trim to lie flat when being worn,  I am now happy with the result, hope my friend is too. I am quite pleased the joins are not obvious.

I wore the top on a recent trip to Northern Ireland