F for Fashion reconstruction #16

In my Fashion reconstruction #7 post, I mentioned about linings for clothing and why I thought it was unnecessary for me, since I am living in a tropical climate.

Following up on that subject, for this Fashion reconstruction project, I am going to showcase a long dress I made by pairing a lining of an old winter coat which I no longer wear, with one of my favourite blouses.

Initially, I was just going to discard the winter coat because of a stubborn-stain-that-never-goes-away on its right hand shoulder.

But ever since I started on my fashion reconstruction projects, every single clothing material has become an invaluable asset to me and I held back on the thought of discarding the winter coat because it would have been a waste for me if I had not salvaged the winter coat and the lining that came with it.

So, after I had carefully removed the chequered polyester lining (because the ends were not serged and frayed like crazy), I realised that the whole lining material was enough to make a skirt. But I didn't need another skirt, I needed a long dress.

After going through my closet and mix-matching of garments, I found the perfect top - a red long-sleeved cotton blouse (which I bought in Hong Kong sometime in 2011, in 3 different colours altogether), to complete the look I was after.

And the saga continued with another seams-and-hems ripping session for this blouse but unfortunately, even with all the material I had in hand, it was still not enough for me to achieve a comfy fit for my intended dress.


The existing sleeves were a little too snug for comfort and the skirt was not flare enough. Fortunately for me, I recalled keeping a black polyester lining of a maxi skirt and these problems were solved, rather easily!

I must say, this one was really a tricky cut-and-paste project because I had to make sure that the patterns aligned properly.


But even so, upon completion of the dress, I noticed that some parts were misaligned by a tiny bit. Argh well, nothing is perfect, no? It's not as if this one was a runway project?

All that mattered to me was that I managed to complete this project to my satisfaction, in less than a week. Also, I have already worn this dress a couple of times because I liked it so much!

Who could tell that this was a cut-and-paste project, if I had not disclosed the facts?


I can proudly say that you cannot find this item anywhere. 💃🐒👌🙋