Heyyy ya! So remember like a month ago when I shared my refashion of a Davids Bridal Bridesmaid Dress Refashion? Well, here is another one I did the day after but kept putting off photographing. But I decided I wanted to wear it to a bridal shower for a friend and what better time to take pictures than when your all dolled up for a party!?

Anyways; here is my second Bridesmaids Dress refashion featuring yet another Davids Bridal gown!

I've had this dress for 3 years now. I got this dress for my besties wedding almost exactly a year before my own! It was a super cute dress, and I even wore it once after the wedding; however, I just don't usually need a little black dress in this style so I thought I would make it a little more "gracie" :)

To start off I separated the skirt from the top. I could have probably taken the lining with it but I didn't realize that until after the skirt was already detached.

I then tried the skirt on to see how much I wanted to hem it. I'm a fan of short shorts, I can't help it I like my long legs :) After measuring and hemming I cut the extra fabric, and ended up having about a two inch ribbon.

I then took that extra ribbon of fabric, cut in half and pinned the ribbon to the skirt top. I left enough on the front to tie a bow and lined up the edge with the zipper.

I love this skirt, it was so simple to make and turned out so fun and flirty! I was actually looking for a skirt JUST like this earlier this year but was too scared to make it and didn't wanna spend the money to buy one, who would have thought I had something in my own closet that would take me less than 2 hours!!

I'm sure most of us have so many pieces in our closet that could use a good refashioning. And in todays world with all the tutorials and resources on line we just need to jump in! I NEVER in a million years thought I could pull this off, it isn't perfect by far but it is something I am proud and excited to wear along with my first refashion!

What do you do with dresses that you no longer wear on a regular bases?
How many bridesmaids dresses do you have insulating your closet? Before this project I had 4! That is close to $500 just SITTING in my closet!
photo gracie-sig_zps2d86285f.jpg

Last weekend I was in my cousins wedding and it was AWESOME! So beautiful, fun, and lots and lots of laughing :) She had her bridesmaids buy these beautiful mint chiffon dresses from Davids Bridal. They were perfect for her Gatsby theme and gave the bridal party that elegant edge we all needed. But, like most bridesmaids, I wasn't sure when I would wear this dress again and started thinking about how I could modify it to fit my personal, everyday, style a little better.

I thought about cutting it short, doing the high low hem line, or even just cutting the lining short for a flirty look. But none of those styles changed my biggest issue with the dress. It didn't really fit. Yes it stayed up and that was all I needed it to do, but the sweetheart neck line kept folding over and it was a bit boxy around my waist. So I decided to chop off the top and attach a fun tank for a more casual maxi dress.

To start I found an awesomely fun tank from Walmart that features a silver snakeskin screen print pattern all over for $3! I then tried on both pieces to see where I wanted to cut the dress and tank.
(You can kinda see in the above picture how boxy the top looked, not bad but not good enough for me to wanna wear it erryday).

Then I pinned the tank to the inside of the dress. Yes I know that usually you do this stuff inside out but I thought I would be able to just cut the top of the dress off and have a fun flirty fringe around the waist of the skirt. I also knew that I needed to keep the zipper intact. The tank was stretchy and could easily be pulled over but the skirt wouldn't fit over my shoulders or my hips with out the zipper. I got hung up on this part for a while but eventually made it through :)

Once I got it sewed all the way around the waist band I cut the top of the dress off, being sure to leave the zipper. I then turned the dress inside out and cut the tank top leaving just a few inches for safe keeping. Then I sewed the exposed zipper to the tank top and then unzipped the zipper and cut the tank down the center. Making it look like the zipper went all the way up the dress. Sadly my zipper didn't reach the top of my tank so I had to add a hook and eye to close the top.

TA DA! Thats all I needed to do! I did a bit of finishing around the edges but once the zipper issue was figured out my dress is now something I can wear on the reg! I really really like it and am surprised with my ability to refashion a bridesmaid dress in to something I may actually wear to another event. There are some issues like uneven stitches, uneven cuts, and yeahhh its a little crooked. But for a first time refashion project I think it looks pretty good! And if I need it to look real fancy and not so "handmade" I can just through on a belt and Wah La it looks professional :)

Here are a few images that show how it fits now.

Do you have any dresses in your closet that need to be refashioned in to something a little more usable? I've got a couple other dresses I may try to play around with, this one has certainly given my confidence a boost :)