Turning a Tired Dress into a Swishy New Skirt

Tags

Buttercups, Chiffon, Dress rework, Meadow, pinterest, Refashioned, romantic, sewing, Warehouse

Hello Blogging friends,

Well my sewing journey continues this week with a rescue mission on a dress that had served me well and faithfully, but was long past it’s best days.

This Warehouse dress has been a cherished favourite of mine for years! I adore the romantic style of it with it’s blush colours, ruffles and pleats in the soft chiffon fabric. I love it and I’ve worn it again and again.

Unfortunately, wearing it again and again has meant that the dress was a little frayed around the edges and holes were starting to appear.

My poor dress was getting tired and whilst I still loved it, I couldn’t keep wearing it as it was. So I rang super seamstress and mentor, Mary and got to work refashioning it. (I’ve only once reworked a dress before and you can see the results of that first venture here.)

The first step was to unceremoniously cut off the top half of the dress. The top half was where the wear and tear was beginning to show so it had to go.

Then it was a simple matter pinning and some (slightly wobbly) stitching so that the waist band sits in just the right place.

And hey presto! My tired old dress was a brand new skirt!

I matched the skirt with this pale blue cardigan from Hobbs (courtesy of Boundery Mill sale), following a trend I have seen on Pinterest of matching tulle skirts with simple cardigans.  It is a really cool mix of dressy and understated and I had been itching to try out this style for myself.

I think it is also a very sweet feminine look, so much so that whilst wearing it I felt compelled to gather up a few wildflowers!

I had always loved how the layers fall on this skirt, and I am so glad that by reworking the dress I get to keep hold of this treasure and wear it for a few more years!