Yesterday I showed you what I received for the Restyling exchange… Today I am so excited to show you what I MADE for the Restyling Exchange!!
WHAT I RECIEVED
My partner was my dear friend Molly, who is just adorable in every way and has the most wonderful vintage & color inspired style. Molly sent me a piece of tropical fabric just over 1 yard long and a pleated skirt – both found at the thrift store. The fabric has a rayon-y hand to it so I would take a wild guess that thats what it is. I was pretty excited about this package as the colors are amazing and I once I took the pleats out of the skirt and got it all taken apart I had a lot to work with.
WHAT I MADE
I mentioned before that Molly’s style is super vintage. I always like to approach my restyles by trying to see if there is a pattern I can squeeze out of what I have rather than trying to whip up something from scratch. Staying true to the ethics of the Restyling Exchange, I dove into my pattern stash to see what I had. Lucky me I discovered this vintage Simplicity 5562 in my size that I’ve had since forever! Molly and I are roughly the same size, and I just knew this pattern would be a perfect fit for her style if I could squeeze it out of what I had.
MY STRATEGY
Luckily the skirt of the dress was made out of gores rather than flares, so that really helped with pattern placement & cutting out. I did have to go off grain on some pieces to make it fit, but with his style of dress I didn’t think it would matter. I also added the color blocked piece at the bottom of the skirt. I knew I wanted to to the collar & cuffs in the contrast fabric so I thought that would tie it in (it was also very much necessary to be able to have enough of the tropical print to do the body of the dress). I thought the collar was a bit too seventies so I cut the width of both the collar and the lapel in half. I think this really helped the dress have more of a fifties vibe that I love. Another lucky thing was that the original skirt had two button closure with a secret spare button stitched into the side seam, so I was able to use the original buttons down the front of the dress!
CONCLUSION
I am super pleased with the way this came out – I am actually quite proud of myself for squeezing that dress out of the little tropical print that I had. I might need to make one of these fun dresses for myself! Sewing with vintage patterns is so interesting – this one in particular has some very uniquely shaped darts!
MOLLYS THOUGHTS
Molly has told me that she loved the dress which just makes me as pleased as punch! I cant wait to see pics of her in it. She also has an amazing company called The Simple Kind thats aiming to support marginalized women over seas through fair employment so be sure to follow their adventure @thesimplekind on instagram! It was such a joy to make this for Molly as she is one of those rare sweet souls who I initially had an insta-crush on and was lucky enough to meet & befriend in person.
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It’s been so fun seeing everyones finished makes this week and Pilar & I cant wait to do a round up post!
Happy Sewing!
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