Simple dress-to-skirt refashion
My Mum gave me this dress when she was clearing out her wardrobe.
It has two layers, the top is a lovely lace patterned tulle with a bordered hem. I decided to make it into a princess/dress-up style skirt for my niece.
In the spirit of wardrobe refashion and anti consumption we are trying to have a less commercial Christmas this year by avoiding buying our gifts retail, ie we want to make them or buy slightly used, or just be really original. So all my nieces will be getting some girly princess/fairy outfits made by me. To my family if you are reading this, please don’t spoil the surprise!
Here’s what I did:
1. Measured the length I needed plus seam allowance for the top to turn over the elastic.
2. Marked with chalk and cut.
3. Repeated steps 1 and 2 for the underneath layer.
4. Zig-zag stitched the layers together at the top edge, then folded it over a loop of elastic (cut to the waist measurement and joined together) and stitched down.
Easy!
I’m going to use the top half of the dress to make a ruffled wrap.
Wedding dress for my sister
I was honored to be asked by my sister Janelle to make her wedding dress (the wedding was in November 2007) even though it was going to be tough with her in Auckland and me in Paraparaumu at the time. She designed it herself, I interpreted the drawings, made the pattern and sewed it.
Not the best pose, I know, but it was the best view of the front.
She wanted the front to be ‘pretend’ lace up and the back to be real lace up as the opening.
The skirt was made to sit on the hips to show off her tiger tattoo on her back (can’t see it very well in photo) although not far enough down for her taste as it turned out, she lost weight before a crucial fitting 
and it ended up a little tight, even after I let the seams out as much as possible.
I also helped to make the flower girl dresses for my nieces. Janelle had made the skirts, with lovely layered chiffon petals, I did the top bits (On the big day, like seriously) and Mum joined them up after I started having a anxiety attack about the fact that I was still sewing dresses when I should have been putting on my own bridesmaid dress as we were already late for the ceremony – aahhhhhh!
They weren’t exactly how my sister envisioned them to be, but at least the girls had something to wear, and they still looked very cute.
The main thing I learned form this experience is how very important it is to listen to your client and keep communicating until you are 150% sure of what you are doing!
I also learnt I had too much stress in my life and I could no longer bear living so far away from my extended family. Luckily for me my wonderful husband was sympathetic and got a job in Auckland six months later.
BTW isn’t my little sister just beautiful? I am always flattered at any remarks of similarity.
Wedding dress for Pip
I made this Wedding dress for my friend Pip. Thankfully she made life easier for me by purchasing a pattern, so all I had to do was sew it.
The lace has an organza floral trim and border. I used the tricky snip-and-hand stitch method on some of the seams near the hem so the flower motifs weren’t caught up in the stitching.
I don’t have any full dress shots unfortunately, but if I ever get hold of any then I will put them here.
