Jean Jumper Dress Refashion

This thrift store find wasn't terrible, especially at $0.71.  It needed a little nip and tuck at the waist, but not much in the way of fitting.  But, how can I say this nicely?  It was a little boring.  As in, this dress is so boring that I almost fell asleep trying it on.  Something had to be done.

But never fear, because:

First, we've got to do something about that color.  Sister needs a dye job.

I scrounged around in my craft stash and found this:

Scarlet.  As in O'Hara.  Perfect.  That'll put a little life in this dress.

The fabric is a sort of chambray, soft denim fabric.  I figured it would take the dye nicely.

Into the Bath of Perkiness you go, Boring Jean Jumper Dress.

That's better.  

Dying fabric is always a bit of a guessing game.  You never really know for sure what you're going to get until it's all finished.  This one turned out great, though.  It's a soft, lived-in red and a lot more lively.  But the make-over isn't done yet.  Now it's time for a hair cut.  Snippity-snip.

I decided to leave the side seams alone.  I have another plan for nipping in that waist.  So I grabbed some thread and finished the hemline.  I made a double fold and pressed.  Always press your seams, folks, or your refashion will look like a refashion, and nobody wants that.

I chose a thread color that matched the thread in the rest of the dress and made a double line of stitching to mimic the way the rest of the dress was constructed:

Below is a comparison shot.  The factory stitching is at the bottom of the pic and above the button, my stitching is on the right side.  I also matched the stitch length, so my stitching looks close enough to the factory that it won't be a dead give-away.

And now for the nip and tuck.

I cut two strips from the fabric I had hacked off the bottom of the dress.  My strips were 4 inches wide and as long as I could make them.  I sewed the two pieces together into one really long piece.  I'm gonna turn this baby into a sash that will wrap around my waist a couple times.  

Take that, Baggy Waist Line.

I folded the super-long strip so that the right sides were facing each other.  Then I stitched the raw edges together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Don't forget to leave an opening for turning.  I left my opening in the middle since the strip was so long.  That way it would be easier to turn right side out.

The turning of the strip took longer than the rest of the dress.  Turning seams is not my favorite job.  If you want to skip it, just grab a belt.

After I (finally) finished turning the seam, I top stitched with double stitching all the way around.  That secured the open spot and made it match the style of the rest of the was-a-dress-but-now-it's-a-top.

And here it is:

It's not so boring now.

Have a great day!

Angela

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