See How I Transformed My Grandmother’s Vintage Dress Into Something Totally New

See How I Transformed My Grandma’s Vintage Dress Into Something New

5 Materials

2 Hours

Medium

When my grandma passed away, I found out that the family was planning on donating all of her clothes. I asked if I could have it instead so that I could update them as an homage to her. In this tutorial I’ll show you how I took that dress and transformed it. So follow along to see how I turned this vintage dress into something modern and cool.

Tools and Materials:

Dress
Dye
Sewing machine
Scissors
Seam ripper

Dress refashion color dye

Dye your garment

This particular dress had some stains and discoloration, so the first thing I did was dye it. I used boiling water, and I mixed in Rit DyeMore in sapphire which is used for polyester fabrics, like this dress. I made sure the dress was already wet, which ensures that it will color evenly, and put it in the pot with the dye, stirring it in. I then left it for an hour. Once time was up, I took it out, rinsed it until the water ran clear, and then threw it in the wash.

DIY dress refashion

Deconstruct your dress

Now that my dress was dyed and ready, I took it apart. I used to do this with a seam ripper, but it took too long, so now I just grab scissors and cut around the seams and I removed the skirt and the sleeves from the bodice. Because the dress had a yoke at the top, there was a part that stuck out awkwardly after I removed the sleeves, so I went ahead and took that part off as well.

DIY grandma’s dress refashion

Make alterations

Next I put the dress on my mannequin and made my alterations. First I put in pins to take in the sides. Then I removed all the buttons and snaps and sewed those sides together to create the front of the dress.

Dress refashion ideas

Sew together the dress

The next thing I did was cut the back so that I could add a zipper. Then I turned the dress inside out and tucked the skirt into the bodice so that I could sew it together. I put the lining of the buttons in the front because I liked the ruffle detail that it gave the dress.

Add sleeves

Add sleeves

Using an old sleeve pattern, I cut my new sleeves out of the original sleeves to create a cap sleeve. Then I pinned and sewed the sleeves to the bodice.

Completed dress refashion

And that’s it! That’s how I took my grandma’s old and totally vintage dress and turned it into something way more modern, but still with a nod to that vintage feel. I also found an old belt when I was going through her stuff, so I dyed that as well and added it to complete the look. I love how it came out, and I love that I get to wear a dress that suits me but is still an homage to my grandma. Have you ever done anything like this before? Show me in the comments!

Suggested materials:

Dress
Dye
Sewing machine

See all materials