{Re}Fashion: Bohemian-esque Weekend Dress

My mid-year resolution to only buy clothing produced in fair labor conditions is really paying off.  In the form of accomplished sewing projects, that is.  Not only is it saving me money (trips to the mall are O-U-T), it’s also forcing me to tackle the many potential refashioning projects I’ve been stockpiling for far too long.  First it was my $1 little black dress, and now this:

This patchwork dress is quite the relic, actually.  My mother purchased it back in the 60’s as a concert dress (she is an amazing pianist).  I’m sure it was all the rage then, but in 2010 the ankle-length patchwork skirt and long, puffy sleeves made me feel like a peasant working on a farm in 1910 Europe . . or something.  I loved the overall style, though, and thought that with a bit of a reduction in mass, the patchwork could really rock.

The patchwork design made the transformation quite easy:  I removed the bottom tier of the skirt, clipping the seams underneath the yellow banding carefully.  That way the yellow band stayed intact, providing the perfect bottom border for the shortened skirt.  I cut the puffy sleeves off at the seam where they met the bodice of the dress.  To deal with the unfinished edges of the now sleeveless armholes, I took some of the yellow banding off the (already removed) bottom tier of the skirt.

I folded the banding in half, lengthwise, so that it fit over the raw edges of the armholes.  I used an iron to set the fold, then sewed the banding around each armhole. 

I hope that made sense.  Here’s a close-up of the armholes after I applied the gold banding:

I was stoked that I was able to reuse parts of the leftover skirt.  As for the rest of the leftover fabric?  It’s being saved with other fabric scraps that I will use when I sew a totally random, hodge-podge quilt this winter.

So here we have it:  a totally free, totally fun bohemian-esque weekend dress that only cost me about an hour of my time.  The best part?  It’s versatile enough to make it through all the seasons:  I wore it this summer as-is, I’ll wear it this fall with a green corduroy blazer and cowboy boots, and I can totally rock it in the winter with a warm cardigan, some tights, and more boots. I can’t wait to rock it out with the cowboy boots this fall.   I’ve already got the date with Ryan planned in my head:  Hopping the metro to downtown DC, checking out some museums, taking a walk in Rock Creek Park, stopping for dinner somewhere fabulous, then sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial looking up at the stars.  Of course, this is what many of our dates are like. . . but I never tire of them.

Next week’s {Re}Fashion project will be a bit more intense.  I’ve deconstructed a pair of pants entirely, and hope to make them into a skirt.  Hopefully it will go better than my sewing-a-skirt-attempt in 10th grade. . . but that’s a story for another day.