This post is a paid collaboration with JOANN. All opinions are my own. It does contain affiliate links, at no extra cost to you.
The moment I saw this dress it was love. I looked at it the way I look at a sausage Mcmuffins during any of my pregnancies–I simply had to have it. And at only $8–thank you Deseret Industries–I was more than happy to pay the price. I brought it home, carefully hung it in my closet. Then abandoned it there for over a year. I’m a bad person. I know.
Even though it was outdated, I still thought it was really beautiful and I JUST KNEW that one day I’d know what to do with it. Well, that day came, my friends. It came when JOANN sent me some of their Gianna fabrics to sample, and my favorite just so happened to be the same color as the 80’s prom dress. It was perfect. It was fate. It was time.
I’m happy to say, after a full week of staying up way too late and drinking my body weight in caffeinated soda at least 3 times, I have finally finished.
Refashion Alterations:
- deconstructed dress
- removed lace overlay
- removed sleeves
- removed weird fabric bunches at hips
- used Gianna gilded circle with pearl fabric to make new sleeves and mermaid skirt
- used lining fabric from JOANN to lengthen dress and line mermaid skirt bottom
- created a matching sash with the lining fabric
- took in side seams
- serged all raw edges
- used fray check where applicable
For the detailed steps, please watch the video below.
Tips for working a similar refashion
- Be patient! YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS.
- Use a brand new needle when starting any project, but especially when working with satin.
- Remove all the beads and sequins that fall in your seam allowance. When I didn’t do this, the beads literally broke my brand new needle and caused tons of issues. It was a pain, and I’ll be finally little beads in my carpet until the day I die, but it’s totally work the haute couture vibe this beautiful fabric creates.
- Baste. Always use a huge stitch length so you can test out your alterations and easily make changes if needed. Once you’re sure, go ahead and use a smaller/more durable stitch length. This is kind of like the measure twice cut once concept.
- Don’t give up. If something terrible happens, just find a creative way to move on and fix it. This has resulted in some of my favorite refashions. Nothing fosters creativity like trying to fix a mistake.
In the end, I didn’t actually keep tabs on how long I spent on this dress, but it’s easily one of the longest refashions I’ve ever done in my 6+ years of doing this. It was worth it though, because I learned so much, and because the old dress is no longer taunting me from my to be refashioned stash. It is a bit fancy. Definitely on the #sewfrosting side. Maybe I’ll have to convince my husband to take me on a fancy cruise to I can break out a few of my pieces like this :)
