Dress Refashion and Tie-Dye Tutorial!

1st off let me start by asking if you've entered by etsy shop give away at The Junk House yet and 2ndly let me say Man have I been missing my sewing machine!! I just feel like with all of our summer activities going on I have just had very little time to attend to ALL of the many refashions I have in mind. But this morning I woke up with a Bee in my Bonnett (as they say) and was determined to get something done! I had very little time to work with but luckily my little guy who NEVER sleeps in- didnt wake until 9:30 am!! This in itself is a miracle. Okay but anyways, I have had this pretty little creme dress that I got many yrs ago from Nordstrom just lying around waiting for me to do something with.

 

I absolutely loved it but everytime I tried it on recently I just couldnt take how young it made me look! Now I already look horribly young for my age so I need all the help I can get in that department! So I decided to make it into a miniature version for my daughter. I started my putting the normal sized dress on her and just eyeballed about how much I would need to cut off to have it fit her properly. Then I set about by cutting off the top half that was far to long, the bottom half that was dragging past her feet and then I took a good inch and a half all the way up the side.

 

Next I simply pinned the rt sides together and hemmed up the whole side (oh, make sure to set all scraps aside so that you may use them later).

The top half would have been nicely hemmed with elastic thread but since I didnt have any on hand I just used normal thread and it turned out just fine. In fact I didnt even have any creme thread on hand so I simply used a very light Tan color that I had. I'm all about getting resourceful :) Now for the bottom half, I used that nice chunk I cut off earlier, made sure it was nice and straight (since I just eyeballed it, it originally was not very straight- I have a tendency to do things like that!) Then just like the dress, I cut a good inch to two inches off the side so that it would fit nicely with the now resized dress. Once again, pin right sides together lining the side seams up with eachother and sew. Wow, now on to the last bit- the straps! Using a piece of scrap that was already trimmed from earlier I just grab 2 3"x3" pieces folded them in half (rt sides together) stitched straight up it, turned it right side out using a safety pin and Voila! A simple strap. Then of course I simply sewed the straps on the front and back and I was done! Oh, I did forget to mention that I tried the dress on my daughter in between steps to make sure I was on the right track and that it would be fitting right at the end.This is her "Yes your Majesty Face" from Alice In Wonderland lol. Now I really did like the dress after it was finished but I happened to notice a very small slight stain right on the front of it after I was done and it just really put a damper on it for me. So I decided to take the refashion one step further! I asked my dear sweet husband to run up to the store to purchase me some RIT Tie Dye powder and of course being the awesome man that he is- he did. So using the Ombre method found here http://www.ritdye.com/dyeing-techniques/ombr%C3%A9-dyeing  I got out my bucket and went to work. First I added 4 cups of boiling water, 1 cup of salt, the whole packet of purple RIT powder dye and 1 tblsp of dishwashing soap. Now of course while wearing rubber gloves, using a utility bucket and while standing outside, I began dipping and dying the dress.

 I soaked the bottom of the dress for 10 min, the middle for 5 min, and the top for 3 min. Then I rinsed and rinsed the dress with my hose till it ran clear. Tossed it in the washer with warm water and detergent and ran it through. Unfortunately my soaking times did not seem to be long enough- considering how light each section came out but I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with the results! A dress that I had for about 5 years and a box of $2.99 RIT Dye and look how happy she is :) The dress is actually alot more purple than it looks on the photo, and nevermind the bright blue gymnastics leotard she's wearing underneath lol.

A few weeks ago was my daughter's 4th Birthday! And boy do I have a fun Birthday post in store for you! Check back soon to see all the fun we had!