LB(T-shirt)D

Finally! Here's that post on this really simple dress refashion I did this past week for Me Made May 2015. I started out with this long black thrifted dress. It's 100% cotton and a thicker knit fabric with a crocheted lace detail at the neck. I started by putting it on inside out and marking where I wanted to take it in. Initially I figured I'd want to have it nice and fitted, seeing as it was an otherwise very basic kind of piece. If I had it to do over again, I'd have simply skipped to shortening the length. I sewed along each side where I'd marked, trimmed off the excess, and put it back on right side out.

Obviously, there are some issues at the hips, but a quick run through the machine smoothed all of that out ;). Next I chopped some length. The choice at this point was to take in the bottom to fit more like a pencil skirt making the entire dress very fitted, or to go shorter leaving the skirt's shape as it was.

I ended up deciding to simply go shorter...again, at this point I kind of wish I'd have gone with the totally fitted nature and fit the skirt more like a pencil. It's like one of those books where you pick the ending by choosing one of two options at different points throughout the story...I kept choosing wrong!

So, though I'm not totally satisfied and feel this dress is too clingy at my tummy, and not very flattering (which limits how often I'll feel confident enough to wear it) I thought I'd show how I'd style this kind of simple dress. First up, let's hit up my thrifted belt collection! I love the embroidered rose belt for its colors and design. It definitely brings some life to this basic piece. The silver mesh belt dresses it up a bit more and with the addition of heels and accessories, could be a cute date night outfit. The third is most basic with a unique leather belt.

Now, the other way I'd most likely style this is with a button up shirt tied over top. Super easy, but changes up the look completely! I grabbed a thrifted Zara silk blouse with palm tree print, but didn't love how it looks in the pic. The thrifted J. Crew chambray in the center is definitely more my style and I can totally see me wearing this soon. My final option would be to simply let the dress be and style with simple jewelry and sandals.

Either way, I'll have to decide how I feel about this one. Maybe I'll simply reinsert panels down each side of the leftover fabric to make it more of a swing dress shape...time will tell! Anyhow, this is one of the easiest refashions and translates to simple knit skirts, t-shirts, etc. Put it on inside out, mark how far to take it in (I use chalk, soap, or pins), then sew up the lines and trim the excess!

That's that! Here's the before and after:

Peace,
Andrea