Going Tribal

When I saw its brightly colored tribal print on the racks at Thrift City, I knew this maxi dress had to come home with me. Unfortunately, the torso was a bit too tight, and I wasn't keen on the peekaboo waistline or the side slits either. And of course, as I've mentioned before, I just never wear maxi dresses. But, having fallen madly in love with my last dress refashion, I immediately knew I wanted another one like it.

I first chopped off the torso, just below the waistband. Since the pattern wasn't centered on the original dress (and that really bugged the crap out of me), I flipped the skirt portion over so the back would be the front (because for some reason the pattern was centered on the back). With the fabric inside-out, I marked and cut a new neck hole, then serged the shoulder seams, sloping slightly downward.

I cut all the way down both sides from the new shoulder seams to the old side slits.

Next, I cut a couple strips from the torso. One of the strips was cut in half to provide both arm bands. Each was folded in half and pinned to the dress, centered on the shoulder seam.

Once the arm bands were serged on, I folded them outward and then folded the dress in half at the shoulder seams again.

Next I serged down the side seams, curving inward just below the arm bands to create a small sleeve of sorts.

The second torso strip became the neck band in much the same way as the arm bands. I cut it slightly shorter than the circumference of the neck hole, joined it into a tube, and stretched it a bit as I attached it to the dress to make sure it would lay flat around the curves when folded outward. I also reattached the laundering tag at the back of the neck.

Finally, I added an elastic waistband to give my dress a little more shape. I folded the skirt upward with the top half inside it until the fold was where I wanted my waistband. Then I pinned and serged on the elastic.

And tada! Another comfy dress to wait out the worst of the summer heat (with my furry little photobomber of course).

I'm quite pleased with how the edgings turned out. Have I mentioned how much I love my serger?

I paired my nearly neon dress with the newest addition to my Converse collection - bright baby blue (via Yerdle).