White Dress Transformation

Summer sewing feels like it almost requires a white dress in there somewhere, and this year I had just the item sitting in my wardrobe, waiting to be transformed. This white shift dress was a hand-me-down in a few sizes up, purposely meant to be a loose poolside cover up. I had looked at it before thinking I could either just put a belt around the middle or use the fabric for a whole new garment. But I actually rather liked the neckline, and chose to make use of that.

The Process:

- Cut away the top half below the waistline

- Cut away the sleeves

- Create waist darts in the front and back (I made these a little too long it turns out, but no major harm done!)

- Add bust darts

- Shape the shoulders and sew under the raw edge

- For the skirt, cut down to the desired length from the waistline

- Sew a piece of elastic to the waistline

- Attach to the top half

- On realising the waistline is not quite sitting in the right place, take a little fabric in at the shoulders to raise the whole dress slightly