Refashion Month with In a Manner of Sewing

I've been blogging for a long time now. When I first started, a new lots of portuguese bloggers, but somehow, I've never been that much impressed as I was with bloggers from anywhere else. House of Estrela was created in english, so I could reach more foreign people to exchange ideas with. With the course of the years though, I've started to find one portuguese blogger that I could actually relate to, somehow, or that could actually be an inspiration, All this to simply say, that Andreia from In a Manner of Sewing, has been one of the most recent portuguese bloggers I had the pleasure to be in touch with. She sews for her kids, a boy and a girl, and for herself. I love her attention to details and how beautifully finished her items are. She's way more careful than I am with them (sometimes I'm just too lazy to bother). Today's refashion, is one of my favourite ones from all seasons here at Refashion Month Series. Two out of one is always a favourite for me, but I really loved what she did, especially with the top for herself. You just have to adore it, right? Andreia you are a true inspiration for me!!! 

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I´ve bought this dress at a sale about two years ago, when I still did some compulsive shopping just because the price was worth it. The dress never really fitted me well, it´s too big and baggy, and I always thought about fixing it. Well, fixing it is way harder than just cuting it up and reusing the fabric, and I knew I wanted to make something I would really wear. I decided on an Alice Top by Tessuti Patterns because of that beautiful eyelet fabric.

Regarding construction, I underlined the yoke and armhole bands with the lining fabric from the dress. This was a necessary step since the yoke is fully lined and if i didn´t underline it all the seams would be visible through the eyelets. I then needed fabric for the bottom part; I was in an upcycling spirit, went through every closet, bedsheets, but nothing matched or was enough, except a shirt from my husband, which I imediatelly grabbed without permission (don´t worry, he didn´t use it). I used the back of the shirt for the front part, cuting it accordingly to the pattern, but for the back I didn´t have enough fabric to make it equal, so I had to play with it. The two sides from the front of the shirt were cut equal as big as I could. I then curved the bottom hem at back and front to make them match lenghtwise at side seams. I didn´t want the front to be shorter than it was, so I ended up with a reversed high low: high at the back, low at the front. The back pieces were overlapped by a couple of cm, just enough so I could feel comfortable with it and assure there was no bra seeing, and let the rest of the back open. I also used the shirt sleeves to cut lining for the yoke and armholes.

By now I still had a little of the dress eyelet to upcycle, but not enough for anything for myself, so I decided to use it for my girl. I love the Purl Soho City Gym Shorts (it´s a free pattern!) and thought it would be perfect with this! I needed to be creative when placing pieces to cut because the eyelet had a direction I had to respect, but it was just about enough. As the top, I underlined all pieces with the dress lining fabric. I used a bit of leftover denim fabric for the waistband, colourful pink bias for finishings (which I beautifully stitched in the ditch if I may brag a little, thank you) and added pockets to the pattern.

So, even if that dress was not horrid, it wasn´t getting worn, but now, well... I´ve been using my Alice non stop and those shorts were a great girly addition to her closet too!

Don´t forget to come back and check all the other wonderful upcoming upcycles (say that fast 3 times)!

From a Box * Rebel and Malice * In a Manner of Sewing * Miss Catelinhos * Threading My Way *Fairies, Bubbles and Co. * Mabey She Made it * Conversas de Hermanas * Lulu and Celeste * Made by Sara * La Folie * Climbing the Willow * HattieLu Handmade * Swoodson Says * Knot so Normal* Friends Stitched Together * Just Another Project * Sew Thrifty