Autumn Dress £1 Refashion

 Hello everyone I hope you are all having a good week, I got off to a wobbly start but I am feeling better today and i have a few things on the go as always I am keeping busy.  I have made a skirt for a video and unfortunatley my phone was not behaving and it came out dark so I have to remake and redo the whole thing! This time of year is not great for filming, I also made another dress and video and that filming seesion came out a lot brighter so I have uploaded that to youtube, more on that in a minute.  I am reading a lot, working on another bag and planning a few Christmas makes so afew things to keep me busy here.

First of all is the dress I will tell you about the dress I have just finished, now I am not big on buying expensive patterns myself as I like to make my own but the covers can give you some great inspiration from time to time.  In this case I saw the image  for The Alexa dress a while ago and just saved it, the pattern is expensive and it is not that different from a  number of dresses I have made before but the combination of details and fabric worked well so it caught my eye.

A few weeks ago I shared here my charity shop bargains for £1 each and among those was a floral dress, too big with buttons down the front.  I immediatley thought of this pattern and had the idea to recraete it form the image in my mind.  My only mistake this time was not to take a before picture of me wearing the dress prior to dismantling it.  I am very happy with how it turned out and have included the video link below. There was just enough fabric to create the frill details and switch around the collar, it now has a full zip up the back and all the buttons from the front and the cuffs will be saved for another day!  I wore it at the weekend and it made me happy that it has new life and looks just like the pattern.

See the video here

If you do decide to watch I would love it if you left me comment there.

So the original dress was too big and had a shirt style front, button down with long sleeves with button cuffs.  I took off the skirt, turned the bodice around, cut a new neckline at the front, cut away and saved the collar which was then trimmed and cut the sleeves to elbow length.  The bottom of the sleeves were cut into strips to make the frills, these were then gathered and put back on. (oh I also took in the upper sleev to make them more fitted. I darted  the dress bodice at the front from bust lines to waist and also at the front neck as it was roomy.  I re-attatched the collar backwards then pleated it to the neck by hand.  I stitched the skirt bottom back on with added gathers to fit and added a back zip.

I am really happy with the neck effect especially as I was really winging it here and had no idea how this would turn out.

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I think this fabric is just perfect for Autumn and also really cheery, I love these thrifty makes they are the reason I began sewing as a teenager and they always make me smile. 

Below is the image of the pattern cover that I copied....

 

So what about you, do you ever just copy the pattern images? It is very satisfying to just work it out for yourself.  Let me know in the comments below if you do this and what you have made.

 Well have a lovely week, take care.