|day 12| Refashion Month Guest: Carissa from Carissa Knits

Just like so many of the guests so far, I discovered today's guest - Carissa from Carissa Knits - through the online community Refashion Co-op. I like her casual and classic looks. She even has a gallery with her refashions, all together on her blog and I find myself checking it sometimes, for inspiration. 

I don't know about you, but I've been loving Refashion Month here at House of Estrela! So many talented refashioners in one place, and I am so honored to be a part of it. So let's jump right in!

If you follow my blog at all, you'll know that I worked my butt off during 2012 to literally work my butt off. I got healthy and lost a ton of weight (okay, not really a ton), and now I have lots of fat clothes to fuel my remakes. I bought this dress about a year ago, maybe a third of the way to my goal. I can't tell you how excited I was to fit into this dress, and I can't tell you how excited I am now to not fit into it anymore.

Now that's it really warming up here in Texas (100+ F/40+ C), I'm itching for thin, loose fabrics. And the outer layer of this dress will fit the bill quite nicely.

First, I removed the sash around the waist. I'll set that aside and put it to good use later.

The next step was to amputate the outer layer of skirt. I'm sure the rest of the dress will find its way back into my wardrobe in some way, but for now it gets tossed in the scrap pile.

With the skirt detached, I can lay it out and better see what I'm working with - four diamond-ish pieces, two slightly shorter and two longer.

I cut each of the diamonds apart.

Since this fabric is rather transparent, I'm going to double it for modesty's sake. I laid one large piece face down, then a small piece on top of it, also face down. I pinned and sewed all the way down each side, leaving the top edge open and the uneven bottom edges free-flowing as well.

Next I flipped this tube right-side-out and top-stitched down the sides. This gives a nice finished look as well as encases the raw edges to prevent unravelling.

I repeated this process to join the other small and large diamonds to one another also. Then I overlapped the side of one piece with the side of the other (seaming the sides this way will reduce the bulk at the seam and also make sure it lays flat). I measured 13in/33cm down from the top and sewed from there, all the way down to the bottom edge. Then I repeated this on the other two sides of my pieces.

With my side seams finished, I turned my attention to the collar. I folded over and hemmed the top to encase the raw edges.

Then I folded it over again, this time by about 2in/5cm, and sewed a pocket for my collar tie. I repeated this on the back panel as well.

And that's where the old waist sash comes in!

Now I'm all set to soak up the sun in style!

I think I like it better tucked in...

... but I can easily untuck it for a completely different look!

Thanks for reading and thanks to Magda for hosting such a great party!

Happy refashioning!
--Carissa
CarissaKnits.blogspot.com

P.S. The shorts are a refash too! Check out how I did it here!