Upcycling a brown silk pajama dress

Another day of sewing with Kaitlyn. She came over last week, and our goal was to give her collection a quick overview and create an outfit. She has a total of 15 outfits after this one was completed. Her senior project originally only planned for 12, but I guess we got a little carried away. Oops. There will probably end up being close to 20 outfits, quite an accomplishment since we've only been sewing together since the first week of October. Her fashion show is only a few weeks away!

This dress showcased in this entry was originally a silk pajama I purchased at Goodwill for $1. I was going to repurpose it for my lingerie line that I'm working on, but since Kaitlyn's colors are brown, turquoise, tan and yellow, I thought perhaps she could get some use out of it. It wasn't fitted at all, a simple pullover silk dress.

Kaitlyn started by adding scrap trim her mother gave her to the neckline all the way around. She had just enough, maybe a few inches extra. Using scrap lace and trim is a great way to jazz up a boring top you're considering getting rid of. Simply pin it along the edge and top stitch with a sewing machine. When you come full circle and the end meets the start of the trim, fold the raw edge over and back stitch to lock your seam.

Finding a hideous acrylic sweater in her stash of old clothes, Kaitlyn removed the applique flowers that were attached her handy seam ripper.

Using some waistband elastic I had lying around, Kaitlyn sewed a piece to the back section, pulling the fabric together and creating a more fitted look without taking in the side seams.

Brilliantly, Kaitlyn decided to take the flowers she removed from the sweater and sew them onto the dress. She pinned them in the exact spot she'd "tack" them on. 

All the flowers ready to be hand sewn.

Each individual flower was to be hand sewn, tacking them exactly where the pin attached it to the dress. This took a while but the end result was very much worth it. Notice Kaitlyn is wearing the Mormon sundress I repurposed. The matching bow is so cute on her too! She bought it off my website.

Needing something at it's waist, Kaitlyn took scrap material from a long skirt she'd shortened the week before to create a sash for this dress. She simply folded it lengthwise, and sewed the length of the fabric. She closed one end, leaving the other end open to turn it right side out. Once it's turned right side out, she top stitched the unfinished end.

A preview of her entire collection, together on a clothing rack for the first time. While most have been featured on my blog, they'll be on models walking down a runway for the whole world to see. Fittings are coming up right around the corner. Kaitlyn is so excited!

And her finished dress. Sassy Kaitlyn. Every dress we do lately has been better than the previous, but I think this one is genuinely her favorite. She put on my hat I got at Sweet Ludie's last week. We had fun taking the "after" pictures.

 It matches the dress so well, but don't get any ideas Kaitlyn. This hat is mine! Ha.

The promo photo for Kaitlyn's commercials for the fashion show. She's so beautiful. It's been truly amazing to watch her grow with her sewing and expressing herself through her designs over the past few months. It's so rewarding sharing my talents and teaching her. I'm going to miss her when her project is over.

Yet another snow day today. Getting so much done. Notice the blog redesign. Thanks Georgia for having out of character weather and allowing the bar to be closed another day, I appreciate it. I'm headed back to my sewing room to work on some lingerie.