Remaking A RTW Dress

I've honestly forgotten how long and involved it is to sew a wardrobe. I've been sewing for so long that I've grown accustomed to my almost totally made by me wardrobe. I'm also spoiled. I've sewn so much in the past that I had many outfits to chose from on any given day. That is no longer true...

So while I continue to sew more garments, I caught a sale at Jessica London and thought I would add a dress or two to my closet. They were really reduced and so inexpensive that I thought even if I need to make some adjustments to them, it would be worth it.

Two dresses arrived this week. After trying them on I realized that neither fit particularly well and so I decided to make some changes.

Black cotton lace with black gauzy like body

The first one I fixed is the black cotton lace and silky like fabric which was not that in real life. The bodice was made from the black cotton lace but the skirt was too short and made with a really cheap cotton broadcloth that stuck out at the sides ~ totally unappealing and not worth the $26 I paid for it. 

Here is my finished maxi dress ~

Construction ~
Since I was really only interested in the black cotton lace bodice I cut it off of the skirt bottom and set the bottom aside. Then I also took the sides in a little to snug it up against my body because it had the requisite RTW ease.

I added this knit that I recently purchased from Fabric Mart to the bottom of the top to make a new maxidress.

• To get the skirt bottom I cut a piece 45" long and left the full width.
• Then I sewed up the back seam.
• There are gathers in the front to make it fit a little softer and tucks in the back to make the fit better over my backside. 
• I serged the hemline of the skirt piece and then stitched it to the bodice top.
• Sewed the skirt to the bodice using a 5/8" seam allowance.
• Pressed the seam up.
• Pressed a 1" hem on the bottom of the skirt.
• Added stitch witchery to the hem and pressed flat.
• Stitched the hem down and pressed it.

A Couple of Photos ~

Conclusion ~
I made this in about two hours. The total cost of my new and improved dress is $29.60. For the cost of my finished dress, I'm using the full price of the dress for the bodice plus $3.60 for a yard of fabric. If I were to make this from scratch, I think it would have cost about the same amount of money. So in the end this was a good investment and well worth the time to transform it.

The second dress I bought won't be altered as much. The changes are more simple and it will show up here soon. I wanted this maxi dress to wear to an afternoon barbecue yesterday. Since my daughter and the grandkids were going with me, we snapped a few quick pictures while we waited for the rest of the family to join us.

Finally I don't know if I'm on the tail end of this trend or not...however...I can tell you that I love wearing maxi dresses and will probably be wearing them for many more seasons. They are so comfortable to wear and give me that casual yet well put together look I'm striving to achieve. There will be more variations of maxidresses here on the blog sooner rather than later!

...as always more later!