#RefashionFriday Dress to Peplum Top
Happy Friday! And happy first #RefashionFriday of 2020! I had a different refashion planned for Valentines Day (a cozy pair of pajamas), but earlier this week I realized I didn’t have anything fun to wear for Valentine’s Day dinner with Drew. I took a look in my donation pile and spotted this cute pink dress. This dress was originally my sister’s, and she passed it along to me. I wore it twice before I decided it just wasn’t for me. I really loved the fabric but the dress was too short for me and it would ride up a bit when wearing. It's been sitting in my closet a few years and recently moved onto the donation pile.
I see dresses like these all the time when I’m thrifting; cute, short dresses from stores like Forever 21 or H&M. A sad reality for a majority of these dresses is that the end of the line comes quickly because of the brand and the quality. So I thought I would give this dress another chance in my own closet!
I am very much a jeans and cute top kind of girl. It’s taken me YEARS to build my jean collection. A few years ago, I was focused on making my own jeans, and while that is still a goal, I just don’t have the time and energy to invest in that project right now. But instead of mall shopping, I started buying second hand jeans. I’m not sure why it took me so long to start thrifting jeans - I think it was mostly because I didn’t know my size and I don’t like to try things on in the store. But I went to Plato's Closet and bought 3 pairs. And then went back and found 3 more! I’m figuring out my favorite styles, washes, brands and honing in on size.
But the part of my wardrobe still lacking is tops. I have all these amazing jeans but wear the same tops over and over. Not that there is anything wrong with outfit repeating, but it is still nice to have a new look every so often! Looking at this dress again, the first thought to come to mind was a peplum. I LOVE peplums. And I don’t have enough of them (although there is definitely more than one peplum project on my blog!)
To do this refashion, I separated the skirt from the bodice and cut the bottom half of the skirt off. I undid the skirt side seam and sewed the “bottom half” of the skirt into the side seam of the top half. Next I gathered the entire skirt and re-attached it to the bodice. A quick hem and you are all set!
This was a super simple refashion and can be completed in just a few hours! The best part of this refashion, it’s zero waste! Literally not one scrap of unused fabric came out of this project! There are so many options with this kind of refashion, and I plan on doing another when I find a cute dress!
If you want to do this refashion I do have a few tips:
-Watch what print you use. Since you have to add in more fabric to gather, your peplum will have additional seam lines. If you have a garment with a specific print, or stripe, the seam lines will become more obvious. It isn’t a deal breaker, but just something to be aware of.
- The dress I used is stretchy, and has a side zipper that I kept on the piece. If your dress doesn’t have a zipper, you will need to add in elastic to get the dress over your bust.
-If you have a longer dress, you can make the peplum longer and incorporate something like a high-low hemline! That was my original plan but my dress wasn’t quite long enough. This also doesn’t have to be done with a form fitting dress, it would look cute in a boxy cut! But this will be completed faster with a dress that fits well.
This was such a quick fix to this dress, I should have done it years ago! I also put together a short video tutorial on my IGTV! Happy Valentine's Day!