Sunday Sew-Day: Dragonflies

So you may remember this dress refashioned from a housedress a year and a half ago. I think I only wore it once though. It just looked a little too "homemade", the straps in particular. Know what I mean?

But those little dragonflies are just so cute!

I decided I would wear it more as a shirt. So I used a well-fitting shirt as a guide and cut out my front and back.

With wrong sides together, I sewed the side and shoulder seams, about 1/8-inch from the edges.

Then I turned the shirt inside-out and sewed the sides and shoulders again about 1/4-inch from the edges, encasing the raw edges.

I added bust darts coming in from the armhole edges.

Using strips cut from the dress' straps, I created a binding for my armholes. I pinned the strips to the right side.

Then folded them under twice toward the inside for a hidden binding.

I didn't want to have to worry about gaping between the top buttons, so I chose to sew the front closed, but only down to the second button. I could still get it over my head if I kept the remaining buttons functional. Since there was a facing on each front edge, I was able to sew through both layers of the button side, but only the facing on the button-hole side. That way, you can't tell from the outside that they're sewn closed.

Once that was finished, I repeated the binding process on the neck edge, and I was almost finished.

To complete the ensemble, I pulled out some Aeropostale khaki shorts I thrifted for $5. They always look fine when I put them on in the morning...

...but by the end of the day, they're all stretched out and saggy-butt. Not flattering.

I thought I'd try skirtifying these shorts in hopes a skirt won't look as frumpy at day's end. I followed the same process as in the past, starting with picking out the bottom hems.

Then I picked out the inner leg seams.

With the skirt inside out and folded front-to-back, I sewed new seams straight down the front and back.

I top-stitched to mimic the original seams.

And finally re-stitched the bottom hem.

And now my outfit was ready to go!

I paired my new garments with my new *free* Teva leather sandals. Seriously, I only paid $4 shipping. If you aren't familiar with yerdle, you should definitely check it out. If you've heard of Freecycle, it's kinda like that if long-distance swapping were an option. I believe it is currently only in the US and the app (which has more functionality than the site) is currently only available for iOS. But if you fall into those categories, you should definitely check it out.