Upcycled Dress sewn by Candice Ayala

Hi Lovelies!!

It’s been an incredibly busy start to 2017, between building SewingPortofolios, our collaboration with Michael Miller Fabrics, and being one of the contributing editors for Sew Sew Def Magazine, I managed to find some time for a much needed relaxing sew. I’ve been itching for a good upcycling sew, and decided this time I’d make something for #TheSpiritedOne from my closet.

Can you believe, I bought this dress with the original tag from a a garage sale for $5 dollars?!  (original tag said $29). Total #WIN!

in-blog-ad-sewing_portfolio

Upcycled Dress sewn by Candice Ayala

I had a totally different idea planned for this dress, but when we tried on the dress for the BEFORE photo Abigail mentioned she “just loved” the style of the. dress, and so I thought why not make her a miniature version? The neckline actually was small enough to keep in tact and so all I really needed to do was cut out the bodice, and sleeves and skirt, without having to touch the neck. And so I did just that! I used the Tea Party Sleeve ADD -ON from Tadah Patterns for the bodice and sleeves. (Note: I traced the pattern on wax paper so I could make sure the front placket was centered, and instead of cutting out a front and back I cut around the bodice pattern keeping the front and back of the original dress in tack.)

Upcycled Dress sewn by Candice Ayala

And it worked out perfectly!

Upcycled Dress sewn by Candice AyalaUpcycled Dress sewn by Candice AyalaUpcycled Dress sewn by Candice Ayala

She absolutely loved the outcome and so do I! She looks so much like a little lady, don’t you think?! I love it when things come out exactly like I envisioned them before.

Upcycled Dress sewn by Candice Ayala

And that’s it for today’s post, thank you for stopping by! Talk to you soon! xoxo – Candice

love-candice

11 thoughts on “DIY Upcycled Adult Dress to Child’s Dress

  1. This is SO cute! I just stumbled upon your site when I found your mermaid tail tutorial through a Google search. I’m a novice and don’t really have the patience for making full outfits, but I’m so inspired by your creations 🙂

  2. Hi Candice, I’m a Tadah pattern maker and wanted to use this hack to make a tpd for my daughter out of my husband collared button up army shirt. As it has buttons at the front already I’ll just trace the bodice onto the shirt but on the back bodice, should I just cut that on the fold minus 1/2 inch that would normally be the seam allowance when sewing the two separate back pieces in a regular tpd? Thanks, Brodie

    1. Hi Brodie! So sorry for the late reply! Yes, that’s exactly what you’ll do. If you want a piece of mind, I would create a muslin of the back bodice, tack it where it should overlap and then use that as your pattern piece. Button the shirt together, place that one piece over it and cut around. Hope that made sense. =)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *