Oh my knees!
Oh whew. Good thing I have that slip on.
I have a few personal rules about what I will wear and what I won’t wear. I only wear clothes I feel totally confident in, because who wants to wear their insecurities around all day? Not me! I typically wear skirts and dresses that go to my knees. I don’t want to be doing this all day:
I mentioned on Monday that I washed this black dress and it shrunk in length! I also have lots of “dresses” that I wear with skinny jeans as “shirts.” But sometimes I want to be able to wear those cute blouses in a more dressy setting…so enter: the short dress fixer slip!
I have a few vintage lace slips that I use to make skirts and dresses longer. I also own a tulle one from shabby apple, which apparently doesn’t exist anymore. But I wanted a ruffly one that could be used to extend really short dresses. This is a great way to “toddler-proof” dresses, too. Skirts are not play tents, baby!
You need a slip:
And ruffle fabric. (I bought this from Ruffle Fabric..it’s so soft and stretchy! Sometimes you can find it at Joann, but true to form, their kind is cheap quality!)
Measure up 8″ on your slip and measure the width. Cut a piece of ruffle fabric as long as your slip and 8-10″ tall. Sew the strip of ruffle fabric together.
Then pin it to your slip and sew it on underneath the first ruffle. This will leave you with a nice edge on top.
Done! As soon as I finished I went and raided my closet to see what else I could wear this under! Lots of new outfits!
It totally looks like a petticoat, huh?
Super cute! If I were more of a skirt wearer, I’d whip one of these right up. I, too, have a toddler who thinks dresses are just playing peek-a-boo with mommies underwear…..
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant…
Oh how nice. It’s way too cold for skirts/dresses now but for summer short skirts I love this idea!
I have a black slip that has a super nice lace at the bottom that I use just for this reason, but I love the idea of making a few more in contrasting or complementary colors. Lovely!
What a clever move!!
What a great idea!!!
That’s so adorable and I agree, There’s no point in wearing clothes you have to actively worry about all day. Very nice idea
Nikki @ http://basementsewing.blogspot.com/
Kate, this is so smart and completely adorable!
great idea.. I love it..
This is so pretty
Love it Kate!
This is fabulous!!! Everyone is going to be thrilled to no longer see a flash of my backside when I pick up my little one :D
LOVE IT!!!! I’ve got a few skirts that I would love to wear, but don’t cuz I don’t like my thighs…years of figure skating, then sitting in an office didn’t do them justice….this will help immensely!!
love it!!! what a great idea. :)
So pretty and clever! And I know what you mean about dresses that are too short.
I just saw this post and LOVE this tutorial. I am so doing this because I have so many dresses that I would love to be a bit longer. GREAT idea!
I am a new sewer, and suddenly I think I can conquer anything. Case in point, I couldn’t stop myself from buying 3 dresses from Ross the other day, all just a tad too short, because I just knew there must be some way to fix them! I have been searching and searching the internet…this is the best/safest idea I’ve seen. I am hesitant about actually messing with the dress itself. I have 30 days to either fix them or return them! Ahhhh wish me luck and thanks for posting!!
…maybe you could do a tutorial on how to go about actually adding length to a dress? (without adding lace to the bottom, there are plenty of those. and none of my dresses would look good with lace trim) Just a suggestion/ cry for help! :D