Refashion Woman Tunic to Sparky Dress

I love sewing but really drag tracing and cutting out the pattern and fabric at times. So, to motivate myself to keep sewing, I turn to refashion of unwanted clothes.

So, I took an old tunic of mine and turn it into a sparky dress for my girl.

 

This whole project was super fast since I've kept the original sleeve and didn't waste any fabric.  The pale pink sparky skirt was made from the leftover fabric from my previous Barbie and the Musketeers costume. I have also used my serger throughout the whole project which is good cause I didn't have to change out my needle. Yap, I'm so lazy like that..

Here's how I diy..

First, let your kiddo wear the tunic and get a sensing on the amount to cut off.  I need to pull up the shoulder seams by 1" and narrow the sleeves too and that's about it.  I cut off the sleeves.

Mark 1" away from the sleeve under seams and just serge away the excess.  Using the twin needles option on my serger, I can sew and serge in one go. See the new under seams.

Take apart the portion below the waist of the tunic. My tunic has a high waist gathered skirt so it is just right to turn it into an underskirt since my sparky fabric is a bit sheer.

I cut out a rectangle from my sparky fabric using the entire width of the fabric and the length will depend how long you want the skirt. Then, sew the side seams, right side facing.  Using the serger, I'm able to sew and serge the raw edge.

Then, adjusting my serge to the longest stitch width and length and adjust the tension to 5-5-6-6 (pink, yellow, green, blue) if you are using brother serger or if not, just adjust the tension looser and you will get a gathered skirt in no time.  I gathered my sparky skirt and pin it to my underskirt at the waistline. Both skirts should be Right Side facing up. Distribute the gathers evenly.

Turn the skirt Wrong side out and insert the bodice (right side out) so that both the bodice and skirts have right side facing each other. Get it? I hope you are not lost here. Again, pin the bodice around the waistline to the 2 skirts. Be sure to match the side seams and get the front and back facing correctly!

Cut an elastic 1" smaller than your kid's waist (depending on the elastic, you will need to make sure it is snug but not too tight). My elastic is quite stretchy so I can do away by cutting it smaller. Sew the elastic into a loop and then pin them to the skirts along the waistline.

Then, the fun and strenuous part. Change the setting on your serge to normal mode and sew the whole elastic and skirts together by hold and pull method. You only stretch your elastic and not the fabric. Pull from pin to pin and sew on the elastic which will catch both the skirts and bodice at the same time.  And when you finish sewing, tad a! You get a nicely gathered elastic skirt.

And there you have it. A nice sparky dress to twirl around.  Next up, I'll share another refashion sparky dress that I made for the younger girl. Had no choice since she was had to have one to be same as her sister. More to come in my next post!