Summer Convertible Dress

Let me begin by saying - I have a lot of sundresses. I love my maxi sun dresses. In Texas summers, it is a necessity and I wear them on outings, dates, & work. So...While cleaning out my closet, I came across a Target sundress that I bought a couple summers ago, but never wear, and another Target sundress that I bought at a thrift store for a refashion.

Both dresses are made of Rayon, and both were approximately the same length & cut. I like full maxi dresses - my over 40 figure does not like a fitted look - so I never really wore my one dress. But I really liked the fabric on both. My initial idea was to do some rayon palazzo pants, but I opted for a drawstring dress instead.

I've been working on making convertible dress patterns for myself and experimenting with different suitable fabrics for the various convertible patterns. The drawstring dress is nice because it can be tied multiple ways, an works with a wide variety of fabrics (rayon, silk & knits are best). Since these dresses were both basically simple rectangles, a drawstring dress seemed most appropriate.

Here are my starter dresses:

2 Rayon Sun Dresses

• Use a seam ripper to remove the elastic around the waist (black dress). Cut the tops off the dresses so I have 2 rectangular tubes
• Turn the tubes inside out & cut off the sewn side seam ...so now I have 4 separate rectangles

elastic and tops removed... cut off side seams .. now laying stacked to be sewn together and truing up the seams for stitching.

• Sew the 4 rectangles together (long sides) to make a big tube - alternating the pieces: chevron, black floral, chevron, black floral. I sewed mine using the french seam technique.

Sewing wrong sides together first  - then pressing and flipping to sew right sides together to create a french seam on the interior

• I lined up my pieces so that I was using the hem that came with the dress. In other words, I sewed from the bottom up rather than the top down.
• True up the top of the dress. On the Center Back seam (in this case it is the original CB of the black floral dress), open the seam about 6" down and stitch across the seam line to create a "stop" - press the seam allowance of the opening to the inside of the dress & stitch it in place. This creates a 6" deep open "V" on the dress, and gives you a place to create the tube for your drawstring to come out of.
• Fold the top of the dress down 1 1/2" to the inside and press. Then tuck the raw edge up under about 1/4" and press again. this creates the tube for the drawstring. Stitch down your tube about 1/8" in from the inside bottom fold.

That's it. Now you can  grab a 1" wide ribbon, or strip and sew some extra fabric to create a drawstring. I had a wrap style dress already, so I just borrowed that drawstring. Depending on your body size, you will want a drawstring that is 2-3 yards long so you can twist & wrap it around your body to tie it off.

Sorry for the cheesy back yard pics - that was the best I could do at the time. I'll try to get some better pics to post, and I will also tie it up multiple ways and take some pictures for you. I styled the dress with a sweater, heels and jewelry and wore this into the office. I'm also wearing a cami-style sports bra underneath it.

From my Pinterest Board on Convertible Clothing... here's a schematic of a multi-style drawstring dress

Super easy beginner sewing. Very comfy & verstile. Always boho chic!

Stay crafty!

Tiny Houses, Refashioned Clothing, Convertible Dresses --- It's a Movement I Totally Missed!

I admit, I'm a consumer. An 80's baby raised in a "buy it all" society. Here's the clincher that's finally made me realize I'm now mature (yes I'm a late bloomer) --- I don't need all this crap!  I've always been a pack rat. It comes from my artistic & creative nature that I can make something else from everything else - so I'd better not throw it away. The problem is that over the years, I've accumulated too much stuff! I just can't manage it all.

I'd love nothing more than to quit my day job & become a full time artist. I'm pretty sure that there's enough crap in my house that I'd never need to buy anything new ever again & make millions of pieces of art! However, that is just too scary of an idea for me right now. I'm consciously choosing to stay in corporate America & contribute to my retirement & keep my art as a hobby (for now). BUT... through my learning & growing process I'm furthering my artistic development so that when that retirement day comes & I begin my full-time artist life, I will be mature in my idea & technique.

I'm still in my starter house - a small 1960's bungalow of 1300 sq feet. I've often dreamed of having a larger place in the country, but didn't want to give up my cheap mortgage & easy commute, so I've stayed here. My husband & I bought some play property in the country, a place to camp, hunt & keep some bees. We've been touched by the tiny house movement & will build one as a cabin. However, that idea struck me close to home. Why treat my house as a has-been? I should embrace the tiny living & make my small house more efficient to our lifestyle. Although we haven't started renovations, they are in discussion.

Then the idea moved to my craft... why not start refashioning things. So I bought from thrift stores & started practicing (too scared to work from my own closet & permanently ruin something of my own - never mind that I never wear it, or it doesn't fit or whatever reason it ends up in the re-fashion pile). I now have stash of refashioned items & a bigger stash of stuff to be refashioned.

Now my obsession is convertible clothing. In order to feed my ever changing sense of style, but stop feeding my consumer, buy it all monster --- I'm moving into the world of refashioning items into convertible clothing items. I know I'm late to the transformer clothing party, but oh what fun! I've began by drafting up knock off patterns for about 6 pieces of convertible clothing. I started with the simplest pattern & sewing & moved on from there.

If you think about folks who have chosen the tiny house lifestyle, the closet is a critical component of that life. How in the world can you be a fashionista & a tiny houser at one time? Convertible clothing is the answer.