DIY Re-made Maxi Dress

 Welcome to another CRAFTING Monday!!! =o)

I have this one maxi dress that I LOVE, but I really wasn't in love with the top of it. The pattern was SUPER cute, but the top was weird. So I bought it last fall, and haven't worn it since. I hate having NEW clothes in my closet that I can't wear!!!!! =o) [I bought it from my friend's online store: Dame. She also has a store in Santa Monica, CA.. if you are NEAR go visit and Find Dana and tell her I sent you!] 

While on one of my many Pintrest adventures, I came across this AWESOME blog, A small snippet, and found a tutorial to make a maxi dress from fabric and a tank. (I still have yet to tackle this project, I will SOON!) So it gave me the idea that I could just create a new maxi dress from an old tank and my current maxi dress.

Here is the link to the other blog and the tutorial: A Small Snippet

I wouldn't say this was the EASIEST thing to do, but it was definitely necessary! 

Step 1: Find a tank (Mine is one from express, plain black) and a maxi dress.

The Tank I started with and the Dress.

As you can see the top of the dress as some flowy fabric near the bust. 

It really did not flatter me at all. 

Step 2: Decide where you want the dress to fall.

I decided that it should be a little more high waist-ed, right under the bust. As you can see here I pinned where the tank would attach to the dress skirt. (The top pin) and the bottom two is where I actually cut. I wanted to make sure that I had enough fabric just in case I messed up somewhere. You can always take off, but you can't put it back on without more hassles! =o) And sewing this project was enough hassle for me!

 

Step 3: Start to attach the skirt to the tank. 

I don't have a picture for this because I got pretty frustrated with it while I was working! =o)I think I should have chosen a tank that didn't have the built in bra top. It would have made things ten times easier. Also Lexi was bothering me throughout the whole process. =o) 

Step 4: Trim the skirt is necessary.

Again, I don't have a picture for this. By this point I just wanted the dress done. I almost didn't hem it, but I had to or else I wouldn't wear it! I wasn't going through all this work to just NOT wear it!!! =o)

Here are the pieces all together. The cut bottom part of the tank, and the cut top of the dress.  Then the finished dress.

Final Look

This is what the dress looked like in the end. =o) I am really happy with how it turned out and I can't wait for Spring to come so I can wear it!

 You can't see it in the picture, but I actually made a happy mistake in the front. It twisted while I was sewing, again just wanted it done! =o), and it happened to be a cute accent.

Also, I had to leave part of the back un-sewn together because in the original dress there was a cute opening. And since that part of the skirt had elastic, I needed to keep it that way so I could get the dress on. It was really cute though. I will post pictures up with me wearing it soon.

As I said before, I can't tell you that this was an easy project. I sure am happy that I started with this dress rather than completely from scratch like the tutorial I linked above. Now I think I am ready to tackle the other maxi dress!

Enjoy! If you have any questions, Please let me know!

-Mindie