Stylish Teacher Refashion

Happy New Year!  I'm back from a long, refreshing winter vacation, and I am so excited to be blogging and refashioning again.  For my first post of 2014, I have for you a fun refashion that I did for my teacher friend, Debbie.  

When I found this $2 dress at a garage sale, I knew right away that it would make a perfect dress for my stylish friend.  However, like most of my finds, it was way too frumpy.  

 I needed to take this dress in and chop it off.

Fitted

Chopped

After I stitched up the sides, I cut the excess off with pinking shears.  This is where a serger would come in handy!

I then sewed a double hem, meaning, I stitched a hem with the raw edges and then folded it over again to stitch a clean edge.

The dress would have looked fine at this point, however, I wanted to add an extra feature.  So, I cut a triangle out of the back...

Triangle Pattern

Triangle Cut-out

and added some lace from an old lacy tank top.

 

I cut out a larger triangle on the lace top and sewed a zigzag stitch around both the dress and lace.

To finish off the edges of the triangle, I cut a strip off the bottom of the dress and folded the raw edges under.

I then pinned it around the triangle and stitched it down. 

 

Once the cut-out was complete, I finished off the dress by sewing up a simple sash.  I love how this project turned out, and I think Debbie looks great!