Kaftan Refashion - Listen to your Heart

I found this Kaftan at an opshop yesterday, and it is about to become my second Kaftan refashion in less than a month.

I recognised it as a Tree of Life dress because it had one of these message labels - the message on this garment was 'Listen to your Heart'. 

It was sized as one size fits all, but it was actually pretty big, and it had these off white panels running down each side.  

I initally thought these panels may have been added by someone to make the Kaftan bigger as they didn't actually match the main fabric that well.  But on closer inspection I realise they were actually part of the garments original design.

I would have liked to have got rid of the side panels althogether, but unfortunately it wouldn't have fit me from the waist down if I had.  So I turned the dress inside out and pinned and sewed the panels to about hip level.

Then I turned it back the right way and had a fiddle around with how it should look from the hip down.  I pinned and sewed it so that it looked like the above photo.

Then I turned it back inside out and trimmed off the excess fabric, and finished off the cut edges with a zigzag stitch to stop them fraying.

There was some debate about whether I should leave it the original length or take it up to above knee level.  My family out voted me 3 to 1 to keep it the original length, and I'm pretty happy they did, because I think it turned out pretty good.

I teamed it with my trusty 'bad hair day' scarf, some copper coloured jewellery, and a 'rust' coloured fabric belt.

I love an easy refashion project, especially when it turns out better than I expected.

The sides ended up looking like this.

Yay, it even has pockets.

The jury was out at my place about this item, my husband said it looked too conserative, and for some reason it reminded me of a Singapore Airline uniform.  But after looking at the photos, I think I do actually quite like it.

Kaftan: Thrifted $6, Necklace and Scarf: Hand-me-downs from Mum, Bracelet and Shoes: Old items from my collection/wardrobe, Belt: Hand-me-down.