Peasant skirt to Princess Dress

So a couple weeks (months??) ago, I posted this picture on the HopeCycle Facebook page, asking what viewers thought I should do with it.

Such a pretty, mottled green crushed velvet skirt! I just don't wear it any more.

So what to do with it?

Turn it into a DRESS!

I started by putting the skirt on as if it were a sleeveless dress, and creating some darts at my bust.

I think 'darts' is the right term . . . right?

So that's just taking a pinch of the fabric and pinning it in place. Here's a side view.

Suddenly fitted!

You'll notice the back is hanging loose and unfitted, so I did the same thing. Here's the slow-mo version.

Pinch the extra fabric!

Pull it to where it fits!

I then sewed the darts in place, just along the gathered seam there.

The skirt had a lining in it that was dyed the same mottled green-yellow. I chopped that out! (This is where I forgot to take pictures.)

I sewed the chopped out strip of material into a tube, cut that in half, and gathered each tube at each end. Then I pinned the ends where I wanted them on the top of the dress, and carefully sewed them on.

Ta dah! Straps!

Now, I didn't want my sewing to show through the band at the top of the dress, so I carefully handstitched (with a slipstitch) just into the first layer of the band.

You can't see the threads, but that shows where I was sewing.

Also, the material was fraying pretty quickly, so I made sure to sew up the ends of the straps with a blanket stitch to keep them all tucked together.

Like so!

I may be totally butchering stitch names while trying to sound knowledgeable. Apologies. ^^;

I ironed down the darts at the front and back, being careful not to leave weird marks on the velvet, even though the iron was on its lowest setting.

Its hard to taking ironing pictures that make any sense...

And that's it! Pretty easy!

Cute and comfy!

Dorky model pose! And look - LOOK at my arms! My right arm is so much tanner than my left . . . because I always sit on that side of the car and stick my arm out the window. It's a curse.

AND (this was totally planned and on purpose . . . I swear) the straps are adjustable!

Thin straps!

Cap sleeves! WHAT?

And here's the view from the back!

The darts added pleats! Cool!

Do you have any peasant skirts that need refashioning into dresses? Send me pictures when you're done! :D

Much love to all! <3