Refashion Runway Sew Along, Red Floral Sundress

 Week 4: Summer Dress

This is the final project in the Refashion Runway Sew Along challenge.

It has been nearly a month since the competition closed, but it doesn't bother me.

There is no time limit to creativity!

 

Anywho...this last challenge is very straightforward...just refashion a summer dress.

Ahhh, they saved the best challenge for last!

 

Before

 

 

This red dress was given to me by a friend.

The colors and pattern were fine, but the style just wasn't me.

Plus, this was a blank canvas, there are so many possibilities, why leave it like it is?!

 

My goal was to create a neckline similar to these dresses...
 

 

Source

Source

 

 

 

Isn't that pink floral one just lovely?!

Thankfully, my dress had some tie straps on the back!

They would work perfectly for creating those shoulder straps and threaded neckline.

In came my trusty seam ripper.

 

 

 

 

Next, I cut the shoulder straps apart.

To create the right kind of neckline as well as the casing for my string,

I folded the straps down, kind of kitty-corner like....

 

 

 

 

That got pinned and sewn.

 

 

 

 Then I was able to feed my string through the casing.

I did a similar sort of thing with the back.

I measured the string strap to be the length I wanted, then sewed it together.

I turned the dress around, so the front was the back, and sewed up that little peep hole a bit.
 

 

Now it is time for me to tell you something.

This was an interesting project.

Why?

Because it was a half fail, half win kind of project.

 

See, this dress is made out of Rayon.

It didn't take long working with the stuff and realized it wasn't very resilient.

In fact I was making holes as I went along, it was so fragile.

There was just no strength to the material, which made it really hard to sew on.
I'm not sure if all rayon is like that, or if this dress had just seen a lot of washes.
Either way, it was no fun.

 

Originally I had planned to cut off some length as well as shirr the waist with elastic thread.

I only got two rows done of shirring when I realized it was a bad idea.

There was no way I was going to cut this dress and deal with the headache of a raw edge.

So, this dress will remain what it is.

 

So, without further ado, here it is.

After

 

The front...which was the back.

 

 



 

 

The new back.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 Well, that wraps up my Refashion Runway inspired refashion series.

I hope you enjoyed it and got some inspirations for refashions of your own!