refashioning
May 10, 2008
This morning I refashioned an old dress from the summer wardrobe (the whole of which has now happily come out of hibernation). I have had it since 1995. I was a student then, and I remember I felt incredibly extravagant buying it. It was the fabric I liked — plain grey linen — and I wore it an awful lot that summer. At least, I think I did — unfortunately I can no longer find the photographic evidence. Nor do I have any evidence, in fact, of how this dress looked before I started messing around with it with scissors and sewing machine today — I forgot to take a before pic. Fool! (Ma, do you have any pics of me in this dress? I’m sure you remember it).
Anyway, there were a few problems with the dress, which is why I’ve not worn it for ten years or more: 1) the fit was large, and it hung sack-like on me 2) it had a wrap-around split front. This extended the whole length of the dress from the the empire-line waist to the ankles and had an unfortunate tendency to flap open in the breeze. As I recall, I had to wear a couple of safety pins in the front to prevent any unseemly knicker flashing. Finally 3) the linen creased like buggery. Not much I could do about the last of these, but I tried to sort out the first two to make it wearable again.
With my seam ripper I took the skirt off the bodice, sewed up the split from the wrap-around then re-attached the skirt to the bodice, sewing it flat across the back but taking in the resulting extra fabric on the front of the skirt by adding a few pleats. Then, in lieu of a waistband I sewed on a fabric cover with an attached internal cord to the front of the dress. This enables me to gather in the extra width of the dress thus:
As you know I like external pockets. So I added some pockets in the same fabric as the waistband, and trimmed them with the grey cord:
(note to self: you really do have weird bony thumbs)
The fabric is a fat quarter of Japanese cotton bought last winter at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. The cord was a gift in last year’s fabric-and-notion-filled birthday box (thanks, Ma).
So here are my sewn-on additions:
and heres how the whole dress looks now:
Theres a seam right up the centre from where I sewed up the open edges of the wrap-around, but its now hidden in the folds. Not a terribly exciting dress, perhaps, but it is comfy, fits better and, most importantly, no longer threatens to reveal my underwear.
May 10, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I don’t knit, but I found this blog as I was browsing images for a “Tree of Life” proposal I’m writing (I work in stained glass). I do enjoy the blog, and I love old clothes, especially dresses. I sometimes buy them for the fabric alone and refashion them to fit my frame. I love what you’ve done to the dress. The fabric and color is gorgeous. Where in the world are you writing from?
May 10, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I love this dress. Good for you for refashioning. I always mean to, but it seems to never happen.
May 10, 2008 at 10:18 pm
That’s darling! Well done!
May 10, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I’m trying to learn to sew, and just had a bit of a meltdown at the machine. Thanks for inspiring me with such a lovely dress! Now I have something to aspire to, and I’ll try again tomorrow.
May 10, 2008 at 11:16 pm
The dress is charming, for sure, but I love those scuffed up sandals!!
May 12, 2008 at 1:12 am
Your thumbs are perfectly normal. The dips are your anatomical snuff box and the first dorsal web space. They’re separated by the tendon of extensor pollicis longus (long extensor of the thumb) which sticks up when you move you thumb out and backwards.
I was going to ask you about that grey tape, but I guess you won’t know if it came in a birthday box. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for; good to know it’s out there somewhere!
May 12, 2008 at 11:11 am
anatomical snuff box! I like it!
I really like that tape — it works so well as an edging. I have a small collection of it most of which is gathered from the handles of the paper bags you get in some shops. You know the ones. But I’m not even sure what one calls it? Cotton tape? I suspect my mum found it where she finds most things - on ebay.
May 13, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Deeply chic! Makes me think I should have done something similar to my old maternity clothes… too late!
May 14, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Beautiful dress. I love the neutral colours and the design.
May 20, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Ooh, I love it, your adjustments look great. I like grey and wear it quite often, I can never quite understand why people think it’s a boring colour. Understated and subtle, sure, but not boring.