DIY Summer Dress Using Tabitha Sewer’s LenaHorne Dress Pattern

“So now, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and support you and your little ones.” So he comforted them [giving them encouragement and hope] and spoke [with kindness] to their hearts.” Genesis 50:21(amp)

Hey Y’all!

How’s it going? I’ve been suuuper chill these days! After a busy June and July, I finally have some down time. I’ve been casually taking care of some house work, engaging in some sewing, hanging out with friends, about to start a little fall planning. But I really feel like I’m in a season of relaxation. So I’ve been doing these things at a chill pace. How about you all….? How has your summer been?

This week’s post is my version of the #lenahornedress from Tabitha Sewer I was sew lucky to have won this pattern along with a whole bunch of sewing goodies from D&H fabric Co.’s  one year anniversary give away. I mean seeeeewwww much was in there! From fabric to sewing notions, earrings and even a DIY shoe kit from A Happy Stitch. I’ll be sharing what I make with these gifts over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

So like I was saying…. The lenahorne dress pattern from Tabitha Sewer was one of my gifts and I decided to do my own version of it and share some of my thoughts on this pattern.

Pattern Review

The pattern instructions were very straight forward and easy to follow. I liked the method of construction that she used to sew the dress together. In particular the zipper insertion to the lined bodice was great! No need for hand finishing. It was completely inserted by machine. Which was such a time saver!

I like that she uses ready to wear measurements and sizing making it so easy for sewers to choose their correct size. I also liked the inclusivity of her pattern sizing. Sizes start at a 0 and range to a 24.

Fit and Design Modifications

The pattern for me fit true to size.  I am a ready to wear size 14 and I cut a pattern size 14 and it fit perfectly.  The only adjustment that I had to make was in the high bust. I had to pinch about 1″ out at the princess seams.

I’m not such a ruffles kind of girl so I opted to leave out the ruffle detail opting for straps that tie at the shoulders. For the shoulder straps I simply used the straps that were included in the pattern and cut an extra set of 2.  The other change that I made was in the skirt. I lengthened the hem by creating a peplum. Below are some brief instructions for how I created the peplum.

1) I traced view B of the dress’ skirt pattern (it reaches above the knee) to a separate sheet of pattern paper. (you can use butcher paper, tracing paper, tape printing paper together or even newspaper if you don’t have pattern paper).

2) I marked a series of lines 2-3 inches apart along the length of the skirt pattern.  Then using the slash and spread method I cut along the lines from the bottom all the way to but not through the top of each line. Leaving a hinge at the top to spread the pattern.

3) I then placed another large piece of pattern paper underneath the now slashed skirt pattern.  Evenly spreading and taping each slashed area to the paper underneath. This gave me the fullness only at the hem. I didn’t want a ruffled hem. I wanted a peplum.

4) Lastly, I remarked the hemline and cut the new pattern piece.

Fabric and Styling

I was on a tight budget this time around and I wanted to make a casual dress that I could wear in the hot summer August days ahead.  So I shopped the clearance shelves at Joann’s and found this shades of blue batik fabric that has a hint of purple and aqua running through it.  I broke up the print and created contrast by using a solid cobalt blue for the back bodice and straps.

I kept styling minimal with these aqua colored flip flops and shell earrings that picked up the blue and purple tones in the dress.  Another fun styling option would be to accessorize with pops of yellow with shoes and fun boho vibe earrings.

This was a fun impromptu shoot.  I was hanging out with one of my besties in Downtown Milwaukee at the Public Market.  We had lunch, chatted the afternoon away and decided to walk and take a bunch of selfies.  Before we knew it people were coming up to us asking if we wanted assistance taking pictures.  It was so nice to witness and receive kindness.

Well thats all for now everyone!  Until next time…..!

 

 

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DIY Poncho Wrap Top Tutorial

^“And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” Romans 8:28 (amp)

Hello Lovelies!

Its a great day!  The weather here in Milwaukee is starting to break and i’ve been experiencing a series of challenges and triumphs the past few weeks.  I’m so thankful. I am really hanging onto my faith and trying to see things from the glass half full mindset.

As for this weeks post. My DIY Wrap Top Tutorial is about a week later than I promised but I finally got it done yesterday and I like it.  I hope you do to.

It’s a pdf technical sketch pictorial with both cutting and sewing directions.  This is a great beginner friendly tutorial that requires no pattern and I was able to complete quickly.  Less than 2 hours.  You can download your copy of the tutorial in the link below.

DIY Wrap Top Tutorial

If you missed last week’s post where I went into further detail and shared my styled photos you can catch up here.

Let me know what you think and if you make it I’d love to see your version of it.

Well that’s all for now! Until next time….

DIY Upcycled Faux Fur Mittens and Tips for Sewing with Fur

“Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always].” Colossians 3:15 (amp)

Hello Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you all are enjoying your holiday.  This is my favorite time of the year.  I always look forward to the holiday meal preparations and family gatherings.

Today’s post is dedicated to the DIY gift makers.  A few years ago I made a bunch of fleece lined mittens from upcycled wool sweaters for the men in my family. They were a hit.  I thought about making them again when I realized that we might be in for a pretty frigid winter this year.  However, I wanted to give them a twist.  While I like how warm and economical it is to make them from wool sweaters.  I wasn’t esthetically feeling some of the wool sweaters that I was finding. They were a bit ugly or dated.

Then came an idea to try and source other kinds of wool fabric to make the mittens from.  I wanted them to still be warm and wondered if I could use an old wool suit or something like that.  I began to surf pinterest for ideas and tutorials but really couldn’t come across anything.  Then the other day the kids and I were in Target and I found these fun kids mittens made from bright blue, red and pink faux fur.  They were so cute.  They reminded me of cookie monster, elmo and cloe from Sesame Street.  The kids loved them.  So the idea eventually came to me to create my own furry version of a sweater mitten.

I found this beautiful black merino wool and angora sweater at the thrift store for $2.50.  It was the perfect weight and super soft.   

The faux fur I had in my stash from another project and I lined it with fleece that I had from some bath robes that I made the kids.

It took me a while to work out the design of this project and its still not perfect. But I liked the first go round.  I will say this project will work better with a short pile fur.  This fur is long and was meant to be used on a collar of a coat I was making.  But I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on this project so I just gave the fur a hair cut.  They look like chubaka and pepe le pieu had a baby lol! But I think they are fun a bit glamorous and 100% warm.  Just what every single woman who has snow shoveling duty needs in her life!

I also thought is was a great opportunity to give a few tips for sewing with fur. Below are some pictures and quick tips.

1.  Never cut into the fur. It will cause a lot of shedding. Instead turn the fur over so that the knit backing is facing you and the fur is touching the surface of your cutting table.
2. Place your pattern on the knit backing and using a marker trace your pattern onto the backing of the fabric.
3. Use the tip of your scissors or even better a box cutter and cut just through the backing of the fabric (not the fur) along the traced pattern line.
4. Once done.  Shake out all of the loose fur and pin your pieces together trying to keep as much fur out of the seam as possible.
5. After you sew your seams together you may have to trim some of the fur on the inside and outside of your fabric at the seams.
6. Never press faux fur.  You will have to press the seams down with your hands or a hammer.

Thats it.  Super simple. The pattern maker in me wants to work out the kinks in my pattern and play with fabric ideas.  So stay tuned.  You may see more improved versions of my furry sweater mittens.  Until then enjoy the rest of your day!

xoxo!

❤️ Iris

Pattern Hack Tutorial: DIY Puff Sleeve Peplum Top Using McCalls 7722

“An excellent woman [one who is spiritual, capable, intelligent, and virtuous], who is he who can find her? Her value is more precious than jewels and her worth is far above rubies or pearls.”

Proverbs 31:10 (amp)

Hi Everyone!

Happy Hump Day! I want to thank everyone for all of your comments and kind words from yesterday’s post.  It always keeps me encouraged.  Today’s post is short and sweet. As I mentioned yesterday I created a pattern hack tutorial for the peplum portion of this top.  If you missed yesterday’s post you can catch up here.

This was a fun make and creating the peplum wasn’t hard at all.  I basically created rectangles using my desired measurements and used the cut and spread method of patterning to create the fullness for the peplum.  You can download and print the free pdf illustrated copy of the tutorial by clicking on the link below.

Puff sleeve peplum top tutorial

If you make it and have questions feel free to reach out to me I’d love to help. And would love it even more to see your finished version.

That’s all for now.  I hope you have a great rest of your week. Until next time.

XOXO!

❤️ Iris

Pattern Hack Tutorial: Asymmetric Pencil Skirt

But as for me, I trust [confidently] in You and Your greatness, O Lord;
I said, “You are my God.” Psalm 31:14 (amp)

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for all the love and comments that I received for my Sew the Look: Asymmetric Pencil Skirt.  If you missed it you can catch up here.  Pattern Hacking is a new term for me but as I began delving into the world of sewing blogs I realized that it is a term used to describe how to alter a pattern in order to create another design. Actually in fashion school that is all we learned how to do.  You start with what’s called a sloper or block and you manipulate the pattern into the design that your creating.

For this particular project, I used Simplicity 8394  because it was very similar to the skirt that I wanted to make and I knew I could make it with very few pattern adjustments.  However, the great thing about this skirt project is that you can make it using a well fitting pencil skirt pattern as well.

For today’s post I created a step by step illustrated tutorial for how to draft a pattern for your very own version of this project. You can use simplicity 8394 if you like, but for this tutorial I show you how to make the pattern using a pencil skirt. Below is an image of what the illustrated tutorial looks like. You can also download the pdf copy of the  asymmetric skirt pattern hack tutorial here.

Please note that this is a patterning tutorial and not a sewing tutorial. It assumes that you have previous sewing knowledge and that you are familiar with using sewing patterns.

Well thats all for now!  Until next time….

xoxo!

♥Iris

DIY distressed denim skirt using simplicity 8019 and tutorial

“I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]” Philippians 4:13 (amp)

Hello Everyone!

Happy Friyay! Woohoo! we made it through another work week!

I love the skirt that I made this week. I used simplicity 8019 view c it’s a 1970s reproduction. I Love vintage 70s patterns and since 70s fashion is trending for fall I thought it was only appropriate. I had fun making this one. It was a great pattern to work with.

I also love this skirt because it gave me an opportunity to distress the denim using a tutorial from @elicat_diy. I love her work! You should check her out!

I also love textiles and outside of knitting or crochet creating my own textiles is not something I’ve delved into yet.

But when I finished making the skirt I felt like the original dark denim was too simple. Below is a picture of the original color before I distressed it.

I had finished the seams using a flat felled seam in a contrasting gold colored thread thinking that the top stitching would be enough. Yet it felt like it needed a little something else to make it pop! So came the idea and opportunity to play with distressing the denim.

You can click here to see the tutorial that I used. It was great, and had plenty of pictures to help you follow along easily. The only modification that I made was to not tea/coffee stain my skirt after I pulled it out of the bleach solution. I liked the color of my skirt fine and didn’t think it needed it.

In addition to distressing the denim and finishing the seams with a flat felled seam, I added a faux flap welt pocket that I self drafted a pattern for. I also decided to leave the hem raw to compliment the distressed fabric.

I styled the skirt with a casual Friday office theme (hence why your getting a Friday post!) I love jeans and a blazer and used that as inspiration to create this look. The weather is starting to transition into colder fall weather so I wanted to squeeze in one more transitional summer/ fall look before I have to bust out the tights and knee boots to stay warm under my skirts lol!

Well that’s all for now! Until next time! Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo,

❤️Iris

DIY half circle skirt tutorial

Hello Everyone!

I hope your week has been going super! Thanks so much to everyone who liked and commented on Monday’s skirt post. If you missed it you can click here and read all about it.  I really do love the skirt.  So much so that I wanted to put together a quick tutorial on how I made it.

If you are new to circle skirts.  They over all are a quick make and really don’t require a pattern.  You can fold your fabric and draw it on with a tailors chalk or wash away pen, cut and sew.  The biggest thing is finding the radius of your waist measurement.  There is an actual formula that requires simple high school math.

You do this by dividing your waist measurement by pi (or 3.14) and round off your answer to the nearest quarter of an inch.

my waist is 35″ + 1″ for fitting ease= 36″  divided by pi (3.14) = 11.46.  So the radius of my waist measurement is 11.50″

If you opt to use this method.  You can add your seam allowance after you draw out your skirt as I illustrate in the tutorial.  Or you can simply add your seam allowance to your waist measurment.  i.e. waist =35+ 1″ fitting ease+ 1/2″ seam allowance per seam (4 seams) = 38″.

The other and easy way to find your waist radius is to use a circle skirt calculator. My favorite one is from By Hand London.com   I love it because it includes your seam allowance for you (if your making a 2 seam skirt. If you want to add a back seam you have to make sure to increase your waist measurement by your desired seam allowance) as well as gives your length measurement for a mini, midi, or maxi length.  Here’s the link to the app. Its a handy little tool that I use alot.

Once you’ve figured out your radius and desired length you can follow along with the tutorial that I created in Adobe llustrator below.

Supplies: 

• Fabric of choice 
• Pattern/butcher paper
• Measuring tape 
• push pin or thumb tack 
• pencil
• scissors

• I forgot to note that the 90 degree angle should be longer than your desired skirt length.

 

 

 

Voila! that’s it.  Once this is complete draft a waistband using your waist measurement and desired width and add seam allowance.  Cut and sew.

I hope your inspired to go out and make your own half circle skirt!

Until next time!

xoxo

♥Iris

 

DIY Fashion Remix Look#2 and Step by Step Tutorial

“Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name 

lead and guide me.”   Psalm 31:3

Hello Everyone!

Happy Wednesday!  I am so filled with joy today!  God is doing some amazing things in so many areas of my life especially in the area of the restoration of my hope and the strengthening of my faith. Things have been a little shaky the last couple of months but I made the decision at the beginning of the year to hold on to God and walk out His purpose and plans for my life no matter what it looks like.  I want to encourage any of you who maybe going through a storm or are walking out purpose.  Keep trusting God even if it looks like things in your life are dead.  I pray that God will breathe new life into every dead place and restore the joy of your salvation!!!!

Now on to the DIY portion of this post!

Let me just say!  I am loving upcycling!  It is very gratifying and a wonderful way to challenge your sewing skills and creativity! One of my design instructors would say that you can only create what you know how to do.  The more skills you have the more you can create!  So true!

Garment Inspiration/Description:This weeks DIY Fashion Remix is very easy and a beginner can do it as long as you have a sewing machine and can sew a line.  I found this cotton dress in yellow and blue at the thrift store and paid $4.00 each of them.

At first I thought is was handmade because one of them didn’t have the brand label in it.  but then I found the second one and saw that it was made in Mexico by a label called Maria de Guadalajara (Maria from Guadalajara) not to be confused with Maria from Jalisco or Maria from Mexico City or any of the millions of Marias that exist in Latina America lol!  (a little Latina humor.  Maria is a very common Latina name. As a matter of fact its my middle name)  I took a picture of the tag because it had a vintage quality that I really like.

I was originally attracted to the simple aline sillohuette and instictinctively new that I wanted to make it a hi/lo top and I’ve been wanting to play with this shoulder bow embelishment thing that I’ve been seeing other bloggers and sewers playing with.  And thought I could make a bow with the leftover fabric.

However after taking it back to the studio I began to appreciate this garment even more for its fabric (Its made from 100% cotton).  This dress was lovingly warn and washed quite a bit.  The cotton is so soft which is a sign that its a quality cotton.  Good cotton can stand up to a lot of washing and wearing and will soften with time.  This fabric feels like silk thats how soft it is.  At first I was going to just cut the hem and re-hem it with a clean finish.  Then I thought that the worn look of the fabric and the natural fading of the dye pigments from wear would look better if I left the hem unfinished and just frayed the edges.  So that’s what I did!

I love! Love! LOVE!! this top! Its a perfect example of how simple can be beautiful!

Below are the after shots.  For the tutorial of this make just scroll past the photos.

Tutorial

Skill level: Beginner

Materials needed: scissors, ruler (preferably a curved hip ruler), sewing machine

Skills used: I drew in a new hemline, I cut , I sewed.

What I did…

1. First I pressed the wrinkles out of the dress to make sure that it would lay as flat as possible when I cut the hem
2. I then tried on my dress and measured down the front of the dress using a measuring tape from the center front neckline and down to wear I wanted the hemline at the front.  I then did the same for the back starting the center back neckline.  For me it was 18″ for the front and about 30″ for the back. I also added about 1/2″ extra for the fraying.
3. I layed the dress flat on my cutting table folding the front pieces on top of each other and the back pieces on top of each other.  Making sure that the side seams were lined up on top of each other and in the middle of the dress. Below is a labeled picture. I drew in a redline to highlight where the sideseams of the dress are.

3.  With your hand, smooth out as much of excess fabric from the hemline as possible and match up the hemline and pin both layers together.  This will help you to cut your fabric evenly.

4. Using your measuring tape, I measured from the center front neckline down to my desired hem length using the numbers I mentioned in step 2 and using a colored tailors chalk I marked the fabric with a small dot at my desired hem length (this is will be where my hi hemline starts).  I then did the same for the back using the back hemline measurement (This is where my low hemline will stop).

5.  Using a curved ruler (if you don’t have a curved ruler you can use a straight edge ruler and drape in the curve.) I began to draw a curved line from the hi point at the front to the lo point in the back.

6.  Carefully cut

7.  I then stitched two rows of straight stitches to control the fraying at the hemline.

8.  Using my finger nails and a seam ripper, I began to fray the hemline until it had my           desired look.

For the bow

9.  I cut 4 rectangles from the left over fabric. 2 were 8″x14″(the bow) and the other 2 were 4″x20″ (the bow ends).

10.  For the bow I took the 8x 20 rectangles and stitched them together leaving a small opening on one of the long edges.

11.  I then turned the bow right side out through the small opening being careful to push out the corners.  I edge stitched the opening closed.

12.  I then took the 4×20′ rectangle pieces and top stitched all the way around using a 3/8″ seam allowance.  Because I planned to fray the edges of the “bow ends” I topped stitched all the way around.

13.  I then layed the smaller rectangle (bow) on top of the longer rectangle (bow ends) and scrunched the bow together at the center.

14. With a hand needle and thread I sewed through the scrunched center of the rectangles forming the bow.

15.  I then cut a 3″x 8″ strip and sewed them together, turned it out and pressed it.  This is the strip for center of the bow.

16.  I then tightly wrapped it around the scrunched center of the bow, cut the excess fabric from the strip and turned under the raw edge about 1/4″ and handfinished the seam with a slip stitch.

17.  Finally, I stitched the bow to the shoulder strap after I frayed the edges of the bow ends.

That’s it!  I hope you enjoyed this post! Make sure to check out my instagram page later this week to see how I styled this new blouse.  If you’re enjoying what i’ve been sharing be sure to subscribe. all you need to do is enter your email under the follow me section.  You’ll be able to see future makes and I promise not to send you any junk.

Until the next time!

♥xoxo!

Iris

DIY Fashion Remix Kick Off and Upcyled Look #1 w/ Tutorial

“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.” Galations 6:15 (NIV)

Hi Everyone!

Happy Monday!  So I am super excited to kick off the DIY Fashion Remix!  For the whole month of July I will be cutting, sewing, remixing old looks into new ones.  This is not a new thing by any means of the imagination! People have been doing this for centuries.  But it is something that i’ve wanted to fiddle more with for sometime now.  and woohoo! the time has arrived! Praise God! Hallelujah! lol!

Just to give you a little preview of what to expect over the next couple of weeks…

Each post this month will feature upcyled pieces that i’ve created from either thrifted items or something that I have in my existing wardrobe.  Its also my goal to share a tutorial of each of my makes.  There are a few ways to approach upcycling and some require little to no sewing skills what so ever.  My makes will require some basic sewing knowledge.  My goal is to demonstrate various ways to upcylce garments while showing how basic sewing skills can affordably extend your existing wardrobe.

Each tutorial will feature the sewing skill level, materials needed and step by step photos of how I created my re-makes.

So on to my first look…

Garment Inspiration/Description: I absolutely love the 2 piece set that I created from this very oversized dress. I found it at Value Village and I think I paid like $4.00 for it.  The tags were still on it and at first I was like yuck!  Frumpy and outdated.  I heard Madea in the back of my head saying: “Hellrrrr!  I wants my dress back.” lol!Lol!.

It also reminded me of what plus size clothing was circa the pre- curvy girl revolution in plus size clothing.  Thank God for size equality in the fashion industry.  This garments saving grace was the pretty embroidered sweet heart neckline along with those very cute floral buttons and the inseam pockets.  It had a very vintage quality to it that caused me to think of the women’s playsuits of the 40s and 50’s.

I already knew that there was enough fabric to size down the garment into what I wanted. So I decided to make a crop top and gathered skirt set.  I styled the look with bright pink pumps, gold hoops and I styled my roller set hair in a high pin curled bun and tied a brightly colored striped scarf around my head.  I wanted to continue to play on the vintage inspiration with the final look. Below are my styled shots.  For the tutorial continue to scroll down past the photos.

And thats it.  I have to give my sister in law Tane Acevedo a special thank you for using her photography skills to take these shots for me!

Tutorial

Skill level: Advance Beginner/Intermediate

Materials needed: an oversized dress, metal jean or all-purpose zipper, scissors, dressmaker pins, bias tape, matching thread.

Skills used: installed a metal zipper, Shortened a skirt hem, created and attached a waistband, gathering, basic tailoring and alterations techniques, hemming using bias tape, topstitching.

What I did…

1. I examined the dress and began deconstruct it, removing the things that I know I didn’t need.  For this project I removed the shoulder pads, cut the sleeves and the waist tie that buttoned at the front and tied to the back. I also unpicked the dress zipper from the skirt portion of the dress all the way up to about the mid back portion of the top.  I knew I could shorten the zipper and repurpose it to be used to close either the top or the skirt.  Since I had to gather the skirt and make a waistband I thought it would be easier use it for the top.

2. I cut the skirt away from the top just below the seam line.

3.  Next I shortened the hem of the skirt by about 7inches (but you can shorten to your desired length). By simply using tailors chalk to mark the hem line directly on the skirt the length I wanted to remove and using my scissors to cut.

4.  From the fabric that I removed from the hem I was able to make my waistband.  I measured my waist which is 36″.  I added 1″ for ease and another 1/2″ for seam allowance which was a total of 37.5″ (note: because the skirt hem was already attached at the side seams I used one side seam to count as the fold of the fabric which meant that I only needed to add enough seam allowance for 1 seam which opened at the back of the skirt). I then devided this number by 2 which was 18.75″. This was for the length.  For the width, I wanted a 1.5″ wide waistband so I took 1.5″ and added 1/2″ to the top and bottom for a total of 2.5″ and I multiplied it by 2 for the facing for a total of 5″.

Once I figured out my measurements I used tailors chalk and a clear ruler to draw the waistband directly onto the fabric. and cut my new waistband.

4.  I cut fusible interfacing 1.”x 37″  and fused it to the facing side of the waistband ( I don’t put interfacing in the seam allowance.  I find it makes my seams extra bulky and constricts the ease of my waistband)

5.  I Put the waistband aside and took the skirt to the sewing machine and with a long running stitch (I put mine at 5 which is the longest stitch that my machine will make) I sewed along the waist end of the skirt leaving long thread tails at each end.  I then pulled on the thread tails and I evenly gathered the fabric until it reached the same size as the waistband.

6.  I then pinned the skirt to the waistband and sewed the waistband to the skirt. Once the skirt was attached, I folded the facing portion of the waistband over, pinned it down to the waistband and  pressed it flat. (note:  I serged raw edge of the facing side of the waistband.  If you don’t have a serger then you can just fold up the raw edge by about 1/2″.  This will give you a clean edge when you hand finish the facing to the waistband). Below is what it looked like once I finished.

7.  I serged the hem of the skirt first and then I thread marked the hem 1″ by running the skirt hem through my sewing machine along the 1″ mark.  This helped me to keep the hem even.  I then folded it up along the thread the basting as I ran the iron over the folded fabric (this helps to keep the fabric in place when you top stitch the final hem).  I finished the hem by topstitching at 3/4″ from the bottom hemline.

8.  I finished the skirt by inserting a metal zipper at the back waistline (you could use any zipper application for this style of skirt but a metal jean zipper is what I had on hand and matched the metal zipper that was originally on the dress and what I used for the top). I then hand finished the waistband using a slip stitch.

Top

9.  The first thing that I did for the top was to cut the sleeves.  The original sleeve seam was finished with a flat felled seam which was great!  This allowed me to carefully cut the sleeve off and still leave the seam finish in tack.  This made it so that I didn’t have to finish the sleeve hem and It now looks like a drop shoulder sleeve.

10.  I then draped the top on my maniquinn and pinned the shoulders in place as well as lined the princess seams on my top with the princess seam line on my manequinn (pinning it this way ensures that the garment remains on grain when you begin to reduce the size of the top at the side seam).

11.  I then pinned out the excess fabric at each side seam and cut off the excess fabric.  Making sure to leave enough excess fabric to sew the new side seams.

12.  Next I sewed the side seams.

13.  I shortened the zipper by carefully sewing across the bottom of the zipper back and forth several times before cutting off the excess zipper.

14.  I ended up removing 2 of the buttons from the bottom of the top in order to make room for hemming.

15.  Hemming the top using the self fabric was a little wonky for some reason so I ended up having to use bias tape in order to get an even and flat hem.  Once I attached bias tape to the hem of the top, I pressed out the seam and folded under the bias tape so that it was completely on the inside of the top and pressed it flat.  I then top stitched at 1/2″ from the bottom hem. Below is a picture of the finished bias tape hem from the inside of the top and the zipper from the outside.

At thats it! From frumpy to modestly chic! I have a new outfit that I can’t wait to wear to a summer brunch or a day party with some of my lady friends!!!

Well I hope that you enjoyed today’s post!  I can’t wait to share my next fashion remix look!  Until next time!

♥xoxo!

Iris