Upcycling Obsession: Christmas dress reveal

You might remember this previous post here, where I was going to make little girl A's Christmas dress out of this women's blouse. Last week I finished the dress. Although . . . it just wasn't Christmas-y enough. It was just really boring. It was more of a casual dress. Something she could play in.

And then I remembered this old dress I had from oh . . . around 10 years ago , when I was in my first year of college. Okay, maybe 11-12 years ago. I was in a choir at the school and this is the dress we were all made to wear. Note: puffy sleeves were not even "in" in the late 90s. Whoever made them forgot that, I think. Or maybe I'm in denial. Anyway. Here it is. Puffy sleeves and all. this past summer my mother sent all of my old dresses down my way, so I could store them. But I have other ideas for them . . . he, he, he.

So, I brought out the dress and used the black material as the skirt of the dress. Used the top half of the previous dress I made. Sewed them together. Made a sash. And also had a little help from fellow bloggers by using their tutorials (for the sleeves and the roses). And here is the finished product :


Awhile ago, I'd seen this post on Everyday Chaos by Bridget on how to make these tattered fabric roses. The tutorial is very easy to understand and they're so easy to make! I made these in about 10 minutes. And I plan on making another one to put in little girl A's hair.

I made these sleeves by following a tutorial on Made by Dana. These were a little tough for me. I just don't like making sleeves. Period. Maybe that's why they took me a little while to make. And there is even a little too much puffage on one side. I still need to do a little tweaking here and there.

These were the only pictures I was able to get. Taking pictures of a squirmy, almost 2 year old, is not my forte!