Dressy, Tunic-y Pale Pink Things.

Hello again! Today's refashion is a dress that is almost identical to the dress I used to make that deep blue cape out of, but with a different print, and I was SO tempted to make a cape out of this one too, the fabric was JUST gorgeous! But I took a look at the design, which was slightly different in one spot of the dress, and had a different idea. I loved the bottom part of the skirt the best, and wanted to showcase that as much as possible, which would probably involve me ironing out those pleats eventually.. But let's hop to it shall we? (This one cost seven and a half dollars, which is a little steep for thrifted garments for me, but every now and then it's worth it eh?)

I ironed out the pleats and then carefully turned the gown on it's side like so, pinned the sides together so I would cut everything evenly, and started to cut. I'm not sure that makes sense, I hope you can see from the picture what I did. The long, skinny stretch of fabric was originally the buttons and corresponding button holes. The top wider part is the intact collar.

This is what was left of the top once I had cut out what I wanted? Am I going to throw it away? Absolutely not! This is pure gold! I see an Austen inspired Spencer in it's future!

I measured from the back how much I needed to take in the elastic, it was too big for me at this point. I took it in about four or five inches and sewed that up, later removing it once I was certain I wouldn't need to take it out. 

I sewed a hem down on my new straps, sewed those down in their proper place on the back of the garment, and hemmed up around the elastic. I later had to take fray glue to the edge of that hem around the elastic, seemed to solve the problem pretty well. Just look at this adorable feature on the back! I left the button and simply buttoned it up before I sewed the straps in place. 

So here it is, in all it's imperfect glory! And without the belt, it will double gloriously as a maternity top one day. I love how comfortable it is, and I get to showcase the bottom half of that skirt that I like so much!

I feel like there's so much scope for the imagination with these types of dresses.. Keep em coming!