Save the Dress!

Time for Portia Lawrie’s  The Refashioners 2018 challenge! This year we had to find a look/garment we loved and produce a version of it, by refashioning unloved/unworn items. I found lots of looks I loved but was scared off by the thought of trying to recreate. I actually started with a Dries Van Noten outfit, but shelved that after messing up the first piece.

Then, I came across this beauty from Save the Queen! I love the stark black/white/red colour combo, the sporty proportions, and the gorgeous playful penguin print (would love to get a hold of a few yards of THAT).

So, off to the thrift store… I knew it wouldn’t be easy to find the right print with enough fabric to make me a swingy shift dress shape – I’m not a petite woman. I was really hoping to find a maxi dress for extra yardage, but no luck.

Finally, I found a great dress with a strong graphic black/white print and it looked hardly worn. Also picked up a red shirt to cut the sleeves from. Everything was marked down further, so spent $7.75 total (including a pair of trousers for my son).

Unfortunately, I couldn’t cut the whole dress out of the skirt panels, so I had to use part of the bodice which had shaped panels, but at least the busy print hid the seam lines.

I made the sleeves from the red shirt sleeves and the bottom of a black dress I’d previously chopped into tunic length. The trim was thrifted by a friend and gifted to me a while ago.

I’m not sure about the collar on me so I faced the neckline and just tacked the collar on for now. I didn’t want pearls and beads on my collar so cut up a press stud bracelet I made a few years ago and stitched on a few of those for an embellishment.

 

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with the result!