Interesting How-To Mini Dress

I think I might have to make one of these!

How To Turn a Collared Shirt Into a Sexy Mini Dress @ Yahoo! Video

The Revamp of Hand-Me-Downs

One of the best things that comes with awesome family nearby is hand-me-downs.  Sadie tends to only wear clothing for 3-6 months before she outgrows them, so it is fabulous to receive a new bag of goodies from my sis-in-law every few months.  My sis-in-law is always gracious enough to smile a my quirkiness and didn't flinch when I asked if I could restyle some of the dresses she gave me.

Price breakdown:
Hand-me-down dress: Free
Thread
Ribbon (from my remnant bag)
FREE!!!

The dress before alterations with all its fabulousness!

Off with the collar and sleeves!

Next, I stitched around the new sleeveless dress and collar and sewed a ribbon around the bottom of the bust.

What else does this dress need?  A pretty flower!  This awesome instructor at Joann's gave me a simple idea for creating a rosette:

Hand stitch long stitches in diagonals along your ribbon.

Pull the thread tight to create the ruffle of your flower.

Wrap the newly cinched ribbon around itself to create a flower design and thread through with a needle.  I added a safety pin to the back so that Sadie can wear the dress with or without it.

And finally, the big reveal!

AFTER!

My First Project

This week I decided to work on an idea I was inspired by at the Crescent Hill 4th of July Festival.  The concept is to take a man's button up shirt and convert it to a toddler dress.

Price breakdown:

$2.99 Pattern
$3.00 Shirt from Margaret's Consignment
thread                   
$5.99 

• First, I took out my seam ripper and took off the long sleeves.
• Then, I used Simplicity Pattern 4927 to make a simple A line toddler dress

• I changed the back of the shirt to be the front of the dress so the cute pleats would show.

• I made the buttons (front of the men's shirt) into the back of the dress by sewing the buttons closed.

• I used my seam ripper to take the pocket off.  I reattached it to the middle of the dress and sewed down the middle of the pocket to create a double pocket.

• I am not super experienced yet, but I did sew around the collar and arm cuffs to complete them.  The pattern said you could use ribbon around the arm cuff to cover the raw edge, but I liked how simple this dress was.

 Enjoy!