El vestido aqua - Refashion

Here it is at last!  I've been waiting for it to get warm enough to wear this outfit so I could take pictures of it outside and blog it.  There was 2 feet of snow on the ground when I made this a month or so ago.  Finally this past Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, it warmed up to almost 50 degrees.

I've wanted to experiment with making dresses that look like tops+skirts because you get the look with the effortlessness of a dress.  So simple.  

I love long flowing ties!  Feminine and floaty.

I had just taken a shower and it was 9pm when I started the project.  Please pardon the horrendous before images.

Supplies: Large cotton knit shirt with gorgeous neckline applique,  Fabric from a bedskirt a while ago...I think.  It is a rather heavy weave. I also used some white sheet, interfacing, a zipper from the stash and thread, of course.

This shirt was just too pretty to get rid of and to large to wear.  Make it the top of a dress! 

The skirt is based off of Simplicity 4070.  I used the pleated part.

The waistband I freelanced.  It is just long rectangles.  

I wanted to get the young, free, summery feel of a long white sash and bow but I wanted to make it part of the dress.

I hand-picked the lapped side zipper in such a way that the ties are sewn in at the seams and look like  a continuation of the front waistband.

Hand stitched hem.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  Next time I would cut more off of the bottom of the shirt before I gather it and connect it to the waistband so that it sits more at my natural waist.

The colors and stripes remind me of some bright spanish festival or fiesta down in Mexico.

Looking forward to spring and getting my fingers and toes in the garden.  I'm planting dozens of poppies this year.  

Thanks Nathanael for taking the pictures for me even though it was breezy and rather cold out. :-)