Customising Dresses To Make A Christmas Outfit

I love to have  a new dress to wear on Christmas day. Somehow putting on a new outfit makes the day seem even more special. Rather than spend a fortune on an outfit which might only get a few outings I decided to look for something second hand and adapt it.

Charity Shops Ahoy!

I found this dress in my local charity shop. Despite being a few sizes too big and looking like something from Abigail's party I loved the fabric and thought I could do something with it. It cost me six pounds and as the fabric is so lovely (silk with red poppies on) I decided even if it didn't work out as a dress I could make something with the fabric.

The original dress, too big, wrong length and weird neckline

The dress was floor length which is very unflattering on someone as small as me and had a rather unattractive frill around the neckline which did no favours to my rather large bangers.

Undeterred I simply unpicked the frill around the neck line, took it up until it was knee length and put a couple of darts in it so it fitted properly around the waist. It took me an hour and I'm really pleased with the finished result. The white and red is really festive and it now has the swing dress look that I prefer-nipped in at the waist with a circle skirt style bottom.

New length-perfect for wearing a petticoat underneath

Pie Frill neckline be gone

My new Christmas dress-Ta-dah!

So the next time you see something in a second hand shop and love the fabric but hate the shape, have a go at adapting it. Even if your sewing skills are quite basic its so easy to do and will create something totally original.

Have you made or upcycled any of your Christmas outfits?

All content (text, photos and other) are the property of Betty Bee unless otherwise stated. Please refrain from copying any material without recognition of the author and a link to the source on this blog.