I went thrifting recently with the goal of finding some summer clothes. I started my journey in the dress section and came across this bright yellow dress. While I loved the fabric and buttons on it, it didn’t really do anything special for me as it was pretty dated in style. I went ahead and purchased it for $4 with the hopes of making some modifications to make it a bit more modern.
After trying it on and playing with the dress I decided I wanted to shorten the length, shorten the sleeves, make it a v neck, and winch it somehow at the waist.
First, to shorten the dress I marked out the length I wanted it and cut an inch below that point for seam allowance. After it was cut, I hemmed the new bottom by folding it under twice, pinning it down and sewing a straight stitch across.
I used the same exact method to shorten the sleeves as well. The only difference was I cut them at an angle to give a flared out effect.
My next step was converting the higher neckline into a deeper v. I did this by folding to where I wanted and pinning it in place and sewing it down. I then cut off the remaining piece and did a zig zag stitch across the raw edge.
My final step was making a tie belt to wear across the waist to make it a bit more flattering. I took the extra fabric I cut off the bottom and cut the strip to be 3” wide. I folded it in half long ways and sewed down the edge. I then flipped it to the right way by attaching a safety pin to one end and snaking it through. I sewed the ends closed by flipping them inside the tunnel and sewing across the edge. After that was done, I ironed it down to get a nice clean flat look.
At this point, my dress was complete and I was very pleased with how it turned out. This flip only took me about a half hour and was such a great way to bring an old dress back to life.
