1 Ugly Dress = 2 Cute Tops

Refashioning old clothes is something Syd and I love to do. We have a blast going into thrift shops and searching for ugly items we think we can redeem. Here's an example of one such find.

Please note: When I first refashioned this dress, I had no idea I would be blogging about it. I didn't keep notes about exactly how I changed it, and I certainly didn't know anyone other than one friend would be seeing the pictures. This post will very likely be the only time you all will see me without makeup, phone in hand, and with my toilet in the background. If you see these things again - especially the phone in hand photo and the toilet lurking in the background - I give you full permission to tease and ridicule me as much as you desire.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's move on to the refashioning!

This is the dress I found at a thrift shop for $3.99. The dress itself is not exactly my cup of tea, but the print was okay and the material was super soft. I couldn't resist!

This dress makes me look so shapeless! That is NOT the look I tend to strive for!

The first thing I did was cut the dress in half. I took each side in just a little, changed up the neckline a bit, folded the the bottom of my new shirt under, and sewed down all my rough edges. This was the result.

Not bad, and I look like I actually have a waist again!

A few days later, I pulled out the bottom half of the dress. I really didn't want to take the easy route and turn it into a skirt. Honestly, I almost cut it up to make flowers out of it, but then inspiration struck. I decided to make a second shirt!

The top of the second shirt is actually the bottom hem of the original dress. I sewed it partially closed on each side, created armholes, and added some elastic to the bottom of the shirt. Here's what I ended up with:

This new shirt only took about 15 minutes to finish, and I absolutely love it!

So....whadya think? Did I successfully redeem that ugly dress?