Dress Refashion

 

A little over a month ago, I found this dress at the D.I. that I just fell in love with.  Well, not necessarily with the whole thing, but the pink striped fabric of the skirt and sleeves.  The top was a little outdated, and ripped in a few places as well.  So I bought it under the pretense that I would refashion it.  But I've been a little intimidated.  Even after I went and found the perfect fabric for the new bodice, I decided to hold off.  In all honesty, I was scared I was going to ruin the whole thing.  Well, today I finally decided to dive in.  And I am so glad I did because I am extremely happy with the end result!  

After about an hour of seam ripping, and then using this great tutorial from Shwin & Shwin (one of my favorite blogs) to make a new bodice for the dress, I ended up with this beauty:

I absolutely LOVE it!  As soon as I put her in it I knew it was exactly what I was wanting. 

As a side note, the bodice pattern was actually pretty easy to make.  I measured Emma and then drew out the pattern on some paper.  For anyone interested, her pattern was 5" on the bottom (this is after measuring her bust at 20", halving it for the front, which is 10", and then halving it again for the pattern piece), 6" long, the armpit hole was 5" down, and the neckline was 1" down from the top, and about 1" over from the armpit hole.  Then when I actually cut it, I put the pattern down but left a 1/2" seam allowance of fabric around the pattern.  I would guess this would be a pretty good 12 month size for your pattern if you don't have a baby to measure off of.

 

Just look at the cuteness.  And the best part?  The back, check it out....

 

It's funny, I didn't know how I would feel about the back at first, but when I saw it on her I fell in love.  This is actually the second time I have used this tutorial for making a dress for Emma (the first time was when I made her Tinkerbell dress), and that time I did a full back.  This time, though, I decided to go for it.

 

And I'm glad I did.  It gives this extra little feminine touch to the dress. And a kind of 'Alice in Wonderland' feel.  Each time I used this tutorial I have only used it for the part that teaches you how to make a bodice.  Maybe next time I'll actually make the full shirt.  :)

 

So there it is, Emma's new dress!  And the total cost is somewhere around $5.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

Calvin wanted a picture with him in it, how could I resist? :)