About

Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 8h00

Old dress turned into a new one
Ok - so I found this dress and fell in love with the fabric it was made out of more than the actual garment. As luck would have it the darn thing was made to fit every little curve... so I bought it. There are still grand ideas floating around in my head about draping and shoulder straps and such, but I haven't had much time to play with it since I've gotten it put back together. Hopefully you enjoy it.

Posted by K-Li from Medford, Oregon, United States • Published 6th September 2010 • See K-Li's 13 projects »

Print • Embed

Peter C. favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 04 Feb 09:08
Key West Witch favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 10 Sep 09:24
Jing Xuan Y. favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 28 Apr 02:18
artpanda18 favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 13 Mar 21:39
julie c. added Not Such A Granny Dress to to do list 17 Jul 19:12
cameron.may.520 favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 04 Jul 03:20
Billie F. favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 13 Jun 04:09
Adria K. favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 06 Apr 05:50
Ravens Trove commented on Not Such A Granny Dress 03 Apr 15:49
Birgit favorited Not Such A Granny Dress 24 Feb 11:54

Step 1
Here's the monsterpiece of a dress. It was too straight and the length wasn't flattering.
Step 2
Step 1! CHOP OFF THE PUFFY SLEEVES!!
Step 3
Step 2! Chop off skirt until it's at an acceptable length.
Step 4
I decided to use a contrasting fabric to make godets to add volume to the skirt. They're just triangles measured out based on the desired circumference of the bottom of the skirt. So you decide where to put them and how many - it's best to space them out evenly, the next time i do this I'll do it differently. At one point, while trying this on for fit it looked like I had a flowery stinger thanks to how the fabric decided to hang.
Step 5
Cut slits in the skirt to the appropriate length and attach the edges of the triangles you cut
Step 6
This is what I ended up with after changing the skirt.
Step 7
I then attacked the neckline deciding to go with a strapless look (For now that is. I plan on adding some ridiculously frilly straps at a later date.)
Step 8
I then discovered that I should have put the godets in (the triangle things) higher up, because the added volume was a little weird. I also liked the idea of having another contrasting piece of fabric for a new waistband, so I chopped away until I got the bodice/waist/skirt close enough to "right" to be satisfied :)
Step 9
After attaching the bodice to the skirt I went around the top with some fun ANCIENT gold bias tape I came across thrift-shopping one day... I found that it really helps to use an adhesive to hold the tape in place before stitching. All that was left was reattaching and shortening the zipper, hemming the bottom.
Step 10
Voila!
My dancin' shoes are ready to take this creation out on the town - I apologize for not getting a picture of the back before my batteries died. I ended up adding grommets to the back to lace up the bodice. The dress works really well over a full net petticoat, another thing I'm considering just sewing in when I decide how/when/where to attach a strap or two. ;) Hope you enjoyed!