Strapless Dress Revamp

I found this strapless dress in Old Navy's clearance section the other day and decided that for the price it was worth buying. Now, I'm not a "strapless" kinda gal, but I figured I could alter it a bit and make it more me.



I started by cutting off the bottom 6"...

... then another 6" above that.

I cut an inch off of the original hemmed piece, then hemmed the other 6" piece to match the hem on the other one. Confusing? Sorry.

New straps/ties came from the 1" piece I cut off. I folded it in half lengthwise (right sides together), ironed it flat then stitched down the long side. I turned it inside out with a little safety pin and tied a knot in one end. This knit fabric was a little tricky to work with because it's the kind that likes to curl to one side when it's stretched even slightly. This made sewing the straps a bit tough, but ironing them flat before sewing helped a ton.

The two hemmed 5" pieces were sewn together, end to end, then gathered to make a ruffle.

I decided to pin it to the dress with the raw edge showing to mimic the little ruffle at the top of the bodice.

The ruffle gets stitched in place and my new, slightly shorter dress now has a cute little detail at the bottom.

The ties were tacked to the bodice with a wide, short zig-zag stitch, and it's done!

The minute I finished the dress I threw on a white tee shirt and some flip-flops to go with it and the kids and I headed to the park for lunch.

I love comfy, breezy dresses for summer. I'm definitely a fan of the floor-length knit dress, but sometimes losing a few inches is a good thing, too. Now this dress is a little more casual and a lot more my style!