Re-engineered Dress

 Repurposing, upcycling, refashioning, sustainable sewing, whatever you call it, it's one of my favorites. I have taken a woman's dress and transformed it into a girl's dress several times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Today I have another one...

 This a pink dress refashioned from a Laura Ashley 100% cotton bridesmaid dress (made in Great Britain) from 1989.

Front

Back

4 flaps in the back, 2 small, 2 large

piping along front neckline was removed and reused

very well made dress

all 5 fabric covered buttons were reused

side zipper

bonus! 2 extra fabric covered buttons hidden inside the skirt!

circle skirt = lots and lots of fabric

 I wanted to stay with the sweet, soft, feminine, romantic style of the original Laura Ashley bridesmaid dress. So here is what I did.

removed zipper

separated bodice from skirt by cutting with scissors

bodice and skirt separated

sleeves removed from bodice

original back became the back for the new dress

one large flap removed and ironed

large flap opened up, permanent crease inspired pintucks

pins in a line, fold on pin line

iron on fold line, then topstitch

pintucks, 3 on left, 3 on right, all 1 inch apart

bodice cut out of pintucked fabric

3 fabric covered buttons added to bodice, original piping at neckline, bias tape sewn onto armholes

 For the skirt I took 3 skirt panels from the original dress keeping the original hem. I added in-seam side pockets to the skirt as well as lots of pretty pleats.

fabric covered headband and bow hair tie

All done, already worn, and a very happy customer. Now off to make an 18-inch doll dress out of some of the leftover fabric...

PS Did you watch the Great British Sewing Bee series 2 episode 8? For the alteration challenge they were asked to breathe new life into an old wedding gown, turning it into a little girl dress! Wow, what fun! They were given only 2 hours for that challenge, what a challenge that would be!