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10.10

frumpy dumpy three dollar dress: refashioned

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Target clearance racks are my friend. I found this dress. That one there on the left.

Check out that clearance tag. What! $3.24. Sold.
It was a little short, so I bought the biggest one. I peeled back the clearance tag when I got home to find that it was once a swim coverup. I guess that is why it was so cheap. Summer is over. 

Chambray is a weird fabric for a swim coverup..don’t you think? It get’s all splotchy when it’s wet. I turned it into a dress. So we hopefully won’t have that problem.

I made a little tutorial for this because you can pretty much do the same thing with any frumpy and/or too short dress you find.

Here’s what I did:
-sewed up the slits
-lengthen dress
-cinch waist with exposed casing
-narrowed sleeves

Get rid of slits
My “swim cover-up” had two little slits on the side. So, in order to lengthen the dress, the first thing I did was unpick the seams of the slits.
Then flatten them out and pin together. Sew to match the current side seam.
lengthen dress
Measure the bottom edge of your dress and cut a 4-8″ strip (depending on how much length you want to add) from your colorful fabric. You may have to sew two strips together to get it to match your bottom edge length. 
Finish edge. I serged, folded over and sewed at 3/8″
Sew the short edges together, then pin it to the bottom edge of your dress, right sides together.
Sew it on at 3/8″. Finish seam allowance.

Cinch waist
For the exposed casing, cut a strip 3″ wide. I made mine much longer than needed and trimmed it later. Press over 1/2″ on each long side.

Lay it on the dress and pin it down. You may want to try on the dress and mark your waist before pinning the casing on. Make sure it is nice and straight as you pin it all the way around. Start at the side seam.

Thread elastic through using a safety pin. You’ll want the elastic to be slightly smaller than your natural waist. Sew it together.

Trim the casing edge and fold over. Sew it up.



sleeves
I took in the sleeves by simply sewing from the armpit to the end of the sleeve, taking in about 1/2″ the whole way.


Done!

So next time you see a frumy dumpy three dollar dress…it might be worth considering! Maybe you have one in your closet that could use this treatment!

28 Comments | Clothing

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Reader Interactions

28 Comments

  1. Ashley

    10/10 at 2:28 PM

    Love the re-do annd the fact that you now have an awesome dress for less than 5 dollars!

  2. Amanda @ The Little Giggler

    10/10 at 4:24 PM

    WOW! It looks awesome!! Great refashion!

  3. Randi

    10/10 at 4:56 PM

    I love how you always think out of the box. Great idea!

  4. Gwen@The Bold Abode

    10/10 at 5:00 PM

    Totally genius…

  5. Cherished Bliss

    10/10 at 5:31 PM

    Wow! Looks fantastic! I need to start altering my clothes because I have such a hard time fitting my “high waist”. But I’m determined to loose some more weight before buying any clothes…kinda my motivator I suppose! Maybe I can do something half this cute : )

  6. Kassie

    10/10 at 5:47 PM

    I’ve totally seen those dresses at Target and they are so ugly, but you made it look fabulous! Great job!

  7. Chari

    10/10 at 5:54 PM

    great job!

    is that a Merona?? apparently you didn’t know they had a coupon last week (may still have it) for $3 off a Merona item. so that means you could have gotten it for 24 cents ;-) I picked up a shirt for 74 cents last week.

  8. liZ evans

    10/10 at 7:45 PM

    Super cute! I love projects like this and I love the target sales racks as well!
    liZ
    (simplesimonandco)

  9. Caitlyn

    10/10 at 9:00 PM

    Great idea!!

  10. Steph

    10/10 at 9:53 PM

    So very cute and smart. I love the fabric you chose, and I’m amazed at your ability to see the potential in such a frumadump shirt!

  11. Roslyn@Sew Delicious

    10/10 at 10:22 PM

    Love this! Great fabric choice!

  12. feelincrafty

    10/11 at 3:36 AM

    great job! And yes, seeing potential is such a boring dress is impressive! You’ve inspired me to try to keep a better eye out!

  13. Jo

    10/11 at 6:02 PM

    What is that wonderful fabric? I love it.
    jowestfoot (at) hotmail.com

  14. Megan

    10/15 at 12:26 AM

    You are AMAZING! Oh I wish I could sew and think of ideas like that! Will be following you!

  15. Nicole {Home for Hire}

    10/15 at 1:38 AM

    What a fun idea! If only I had some sewing skills :)

  16. Susan

    10/15 at 1:44 AM

    The dress looks great! I wish I could think of potential projects like that when I look through the clearance rack!

  17. Toaster4JC

    10/15 at 2:17 AM

    That is pretty amazing. I wish my eyes saw things like that when I went to the thrift store.

  18. chris

    10/15 at 2:32 AM

    Well done. It takes a good eye to see such a gem in the rough. :)

  19. Rachael @ Fresh Squeezed Home

    10/15 at 2:50 AM

    Thats awesome! I recently bought a sewing machine and one of my goals is to repurpose more inexpensive clothes..what an inspiration!!

  20. allison @ itstoilegood.blogspot.com

    10/15 at 3:16 AM

    this is too clever and too cute! I really appreciate the details on how you transformed this! Seems totally do-able the way you’ve described! Thanks for sharing your smarts! Would love it if you came over and linked this up to the WWWW party!
    http://itstoilegood.blogspot.com/2011/10/whatcha-workin-with-features-and-better.html

  21. Heather at Dragonfly Designs

    10/15 at 8:11 AM

    oh my gosh I love it!thanks for sharing!!

  22. Karima

    10/16 at 11:17 AM

    Hi, I am your newest gfc follower, wow I love what you did! I too love doing refashioning of clothes, Karima
    http://www.karimascrafts.com

  23. calinai

    10/24 at 5:25 PM

    THANKS since i have gift cards for target, but there clothes are always to big/fit weird! i might actually attempt something

  24. sewphie

    01/19 at 5:25 PM

    great job!

  25. Renisa

    04/27 at 4:29 PM

    a wonderful idea, so pretty! thank you for sharing!

  26. MysticMandy

    05/02 at 1:51 AM

    This is such a great idea!!

  27. ngnrdgrl

    12/31 at 7:19 AM

    Wonderful tutorial!

  28. Samantha

    01/31 at 9:27 PM

    Oh, thanks for sharing the “how-to” – I appreciate seeing the details instead of a just a finished product. Great job.

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My name is Kate, a twenty something fashion lover and mother of two. When I’m not chasing kids you can find me at my sewing table or daydreaming up new designs. You can read more about me here. Thank you for visiting!

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