Hello all! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I did a ton of sewing that I’ll talk about later, and I threw together this 45 minute dress refashion.
Yup, you read that right – 45 minutes! Take a look at the before and after
Now, you might be asking why I did this in 45 minutes. Was it to challenge myself? To get a great title for this post. Sadly, no. I whipped this out because 45 minutes was all I had to work with.
You see, I’ve mentioned before that Hubby is a high school football coach. That means that every year around this time we attend a football banquet to honor the players.
Ah, to be a man. He gets to wear a suit. Done. I can choose something dressy. But it’s always cold. And I’m a cold person by nature, and dressy attire with sleeves is harder to come by in Texas, and you would think that after 14 years I would maybe plan ahead for this banquet and make sure I have appropriate attire?
You would be wrong.
See, it’s not just that I have to dress up. That I can handle. But they make us sit on stage and eat in front of all the players and their dates and families and so I have to figure out how to walk the fine line between being hot (looking of course, because temperature-wise I’m always cold) and being appropriate and not mistaken for one of the high school girls, who have penchants for the same too-tight and too short things I wore at their age.
Also, I’m paranoid about wearing the same thing every year. Probably no one would notice, but…
So, I grabbed this at Goodwill the day before the banquet. And then I proceeded to sew other things until literally 45 minutes before we had to leave.
Luckily, this refashion was fast, and something I’m pretty familiar with – see my How to Make a T-Shirt Smaller tutorial for the same technique I used here. First I cut off the sleeves.
Next I trimmed down the sides and shoulders, and cut 3 inches off the hem.
I used the cut off hem to make a belt (sewed into a long tube and turned right side out). I added elastic to the sleeves (cutting off the binding that they were originally finished with).
I didn’t sew the sleeves smaller like I usually would on this type of refashion. Instead, I made tiny pleats in the shoulders to save the sleeve fullness.
And done! Just in time to pull on my boots and pose quickly before we headed out the door.
Alida
Cutie cute, and it looks great with those boots!
kelly
Very nice!
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Cute!!! I love refashions! But did you say WHY you had that muumuu in your closet to begin with!?
Theresa
I love it! Bonus- I just got a pair of boots and have been brainstorming (affordable) style ideas. Thanks for posting.
Tina G.
I’m still very new to sewing – mostly things for the house and quick, simple gifts, but I’ve been scared to try any type of clothing. This looks like a great way to jump in and get my feet wet!
Love your blog – thanks for all your hard work – it’s very much appreciated!
Melanie
Oh thank you!! Confirmation my desire to refashion some almost fitting clothes is not impossible.
Lynnie
That’s a good one! My sister’s husband is a high school band director, so after many years we have been getting creative with her banquet outfits. One year I made a patchwork dress with pieces of several years worth of band t-shirts. This year it’s a skirt and top from the custom fabric the flag team had made for their show costumes.