F for Fashion reconstruction #34

Black is beautiful... And so are the 2 dresses that are going for this April's fashion reconstruction.


The first of the 2 black dresses is a combination of a sleeveless floral polyester blouse (bought while working in Beijing circa 2007) and a worn-out sleeveless bohemian midi dress (bought from a flea market while holidaying in Sabah in September 2017).

The midi dress only cost me RM10 but the yardage on the skirt was enough to make 2 skirts. So, because of that, I decided to create 2 dresses: one, which I will elaborate in this post, and another in the subsequent post.


I removed and discarded the top portion of the dress because it was totally worn out and not usable for any project, perhaps as a polish cloth? But I really did not want to waste any soap or water on it, so I binned it instead.


Now for the skirt, I had to be extra careful when handling the fabric because it was ripping at the seams. After I have split the skirt into 2 parts, it was much easier to carry on with the project.


Since the existing skirt is not long enough to make a full length dress, I had to attach new fabric on the top and bottom of the skirt.


For the blouse, there is really not much work to do except to sew it to the skirt after it is lengthened, and to remove the seams on the armholes so that I can attach new sleeves. Just then I realised that I had to change the buttons because the existing buttons were rather small for the buttonholes.


For the sleeves, I made a replica of the sleeves I had done for FR#29, whereby I joined fabric together to give a vertically-stripey (if there is such a description for it?) effect.


All in all, it took me less than a week to complete this project because everything I needed was within my reach.


Actually, I could already wear this dress before the sleeves were attached because it already looked pretty as it was. Besides, I thought I could always wear a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath or a cardigan for a modest look. But because I did not want to hassle myself with additional clothing, I decided to go ahead and attach the sleeves.


So, without further ado, I hereby present you the new dress...

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.  💃🐒👌🙋