Transforming a Sweater into a Dress

As I mentioned in my last post  I realized I had pulled some lottery numbers during this past Fall and have been able to cross a few projects off my list.

The second lottery pick was #56: Re-purpose a Sweater Into a Little Girl Dress.

I LOVE second-hand stores. St. Vincent de Paul, Goodwill, Value Village. I love them. I have scored some amazing finds at second hand stores (I'm looking at you Burberry jacket for $12). Frankly, trying to cram three kids into a dressing room is...well...impossible. Just impossible. I am picky, then, to make sure I get clothes that fit and fit right because I don't want to have to try and take them back or just re-donate them-that's a waste of time and money. When I first saw this sweater I thought it would fit me great but it turned out not to be as tailored as I would like it.

Thankfully, I had pinned this post on how to re-purpose a sweater into a dress for a little girl. I thought this would be perfect this Fall for Little Missy since she loves long sleeves and long dresses.

Making this little dress only took me an afternoon (the youngest took a GREAT nap!)  but I did have some problems along the way. I had a tough time when it came to making the neckline a little smaller-I think I took it out about four times and, even now, I'm not completely thrilled how it came out. I don't know if I cut it wrong or what, but it was somehow harder than it looked.

 I did use one of Little Missy's dresses as a comparison to determine the curve of the both the neckline and to take it in and that really helped.

I'm a little bummed I didn't take more pictures-especially of what it looked like after I cut the sleeves off; if you look at the original post she took some pictures of what it looked like. This was also challenging for me since I tend to like to follow pretty explicit directions; however, I found it kind of fun to wing it where I was going to cut and sew things back together. I felt like a fashion designer!

Overall, I liked how it finished. She ended up wearing it for the first time to her Thanksgiving feast at school. I added a little belt to give it a little oomph. I tried desperately to get her to pose for a picture after we had trimmed the tree a few days ago but she was having none of it.

Hanging her ornaments on the string of lights!

She does not like the flash!

So! Two more items off my list. I am almost done with my niece's quilt; I am determined not to go into 2014 with it still on my sewing table.

What do you want to finish before the New Year?