Watercolor Dress Re-Size!

Fun weekend times ahead!!

I haven't been as inspired to reconstruct lately as I used to be. I know that for me, my interests tend to wax and wane, but with all my new readers from the Refashion Co-op Blog (yay, thank you!!), I realized that I needed to keep this up, even if I didn't necessarily feel like it.

Turns out, just STARTING a recon is a great way to get inspired again! I'll have to remember that for the future.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, a trip to Goodwill turned up this...um...thing:

My friend and I passed it by, laughing at it as we did. Those colors! That shape! LOLOL. What a ridiculous dress. We moved on.

But I kept looking...

And looking...

And looking back at it. Finally, I caved. "I need that dress," I said. My friend laughed as I raced back and snatched it up before anybody else could get it. I needed it. NEEDED IT.

And even though I felt like a giant watercolored monster in it...

I knew it had potential to be adorable and even - dare I say - sexy!!!

Click "Read More" to find out how I TOTALLY SUCCEEDED.

I turned it inside out and examined the weird paneled stitching.

I laid a similarly-shaped dress on top of it that I knew would fit me so I could get a sense of how much to take it in.

Looked like about an inch or so on each side. I was also pretty sure I was going to have to fix those sleeves. So I cut them shorter, leaving the cool pleating I liked from the beginning.

Here it is with the sleeves cut away...

Then I sewed up the sides about by an inch or so. It wasn't tight enough, so I took it in another inch.

Once it was where I wanted it, I ran the side seams through the machine again, this time sewing a zig zag just outside the straight stitch - I don't have a serger so hopefully this will keep the seams from popping (which has been a problem for me in the past):

I thought maybe the dress was a little long...now I'm not like a short-dress-fanatic, but dresses that fall just below my knee tend to look frumpy on me. So I cut off a couple inches from the bottom...

Folded up the new hem and pinned...

Then sewed it down in place with a zig zag stitch.

Then I folded over the edges of the sleeves (which was way more of a pain in the ass than I thought it would be) and hemmed those babies as well.

And...*drumroll please*...

It's adorable!

It's kinda sexy even!

It looks awesome from the back!

And if I wear it with a black blazer? It's even WORK APPROPRIATE!

I love that neckline, and shortening the sleeves (which I was only 50-50 on) made the neckline POP even more!

This was a simple recon, but it was way fun. And now I have another adorable dress to add to my ever-growing collection of Dresses I've Made.

Nice way to start the week, I think. :)

XOXO