Get ready for an OMG moment with this piece Amy sent in... I fell in love with this vintage muumuu because of the huge Georgia O'Keefe-like flowers on the neon orange background, plus it is 100% cotton, and it was made in Hawaii! It was a little pricey ($25) and so for a year it sat in the closet while I considered the best approach.
As you can see by the pictures, the dress was all business in the front, but the party was going on in back with a serious overlap of extra fabric. I loved how it scooped but the rest kind of reminded me of a mullet.
My little girls loved the fabric too, and were angling for me to make pillows for their room and I almost went in that direction, but at the last minute inspiration struck!
What do you think Amy will do?? (PS, I know and it's awesome. It also involves more than just one piece!!)
There was enough fabric to make three matching dresses!!!
First I took off the sleeves and hemmed the arm openings. I detached the top yolk from the bodice in back next. (I should have done this more scientifically but basically I just eyeballed how much fabric would be needed to cover the back, took a big breath and began to cut on either side of the zipper!) I cut away those overlays of fabric, then pinned and stitched the remaining flaps together and restitched the yolk back down. When I tried it on, amazingly the dress fit like a glove! All that was left was cutting off the length and hemming. No problem.
I gathered the remainder of the cut-off length, keeping the tacked hem on the bottom this time because it would be the bottom of the dress. sewed the two pieces together and voila! The straps for her halter were actually these random little straps already stitched to the inside of the original dress near the waist. I have no idea what they were for but they came in handy!
To make my little girl’s dress, I took the pieces that had been the overlay on the back of the original dress and flipped them upside down again so the tacked hem became the top of the dress. I sewed the pieces together to fit all the way around her and installed a zipper along the side. The original cap sleeves became the sleeves for this dress, with the addition of elastic thread pulled through the seam allowance to make them pouffy. It ended up being a calf-length dress, which seemed too long on my 3-year-old, so I hastily cut off 5 inches without considering that it might make the dress too short! (I'm kind of a spaz when I'm sewing but it adds to the excitement.) It occurred to me to make a ruffle, so I took what I had just cut off and cut it lengthwise so there were now two narrow lengths. I gathered them, stitched them together to make one long ruffle and stitched it onto the bottom of the dress - in the end I made it extra cute and covered her legs a bit more at the same time!
The last thing I did for both dresses was take some extra bits of fabric and make little flowers with self-covered buttons in the center. The girls really love their dresses and they especially love wearing them all together - which I admit to doing a bit reluctantly, as I don’t really like to attract extra attention in public - but it was a fun project, and it gave me a chance to overcome my fears of zippers and gathering, so it was educational, too!
PS - I just had to include a pic of my daughter's toenails, because we painted them to match!
Take care and thanks for giving me the chance to share!
Amy, I can't stand how much I LOVE this muumuu-turned-three-dresses project! Draw the attention, draw the attention!! I would absolutely love to run into you and your precious girls anywhere wearing the same outfits. You look incredible and the toes...I want to paint mine like them too!! I really hope you continue this trend - you're amazing and I can't wait to see the next round of ensembles! For more on Amy, click HERE!
