Tools and Materials:
- Dress
- Dye
- Sewing machine
- Scissors
- Seam ripper
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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i would have left it for the style, no doubt be back in style before long as now anything goes
That's beautiful. I love how the color turned out.