Refashion No 6 - Little black dress from scraps

A long time ago, I have been travelling to capital of Bulgaria, where I purchased several clothing items, which I dearly loved and frequently wore. One of them was a super comfortable, wonderfully fitting top, which has recently shown massive wear-out traces on the back. Looking in the retrospect, I feel it had to do something with me gaining that extra 20 pounds... But, whatever the reason, I really wanted to help it make a second life.

See that lovely neckline? Now, see that horrible stretch marks at the back? It looks impossible to save, I know. So this top was lingering around for a while, until I finally realised what I wanted to do with it, and how I would do it.

As I have opted for a dress, I have attached the cut-off from the dress I have also refashioned [will take photos and add the post as soon as I can] to the top, making a dress out of the two. Next up, I have found a piece of black lace, pinned it to the inside of the top, along the shoulders, neck and sleeves. To make sure that I would machine stitch it properly, I have basted it around. After machine stitching and removing the basting stitch, I have pinned the lace along the damaged area I planned to cut out and have carefully sewn it.

When the lace was completely sewn along and secured, I have first snipped off the excess lace from the inside, and then damaged fabric of the top. To finish the dress, I did the whip stitch (see below) folding the stretchy fabric and sewing it to the lace, allowing for a neat finished look.

Finally, I have a nice little black dress with a lace back. I sure hope that I will manage to reduce the amount of curve, so I wouldn't have to wear dreadful spandex under it. Here is a front and back view of my new little black dress!

 

See that neckline? Now you know it was worth saving. And the back? Crazy! I even kinda like it with the red bra beneath...