My First Pants to Dress Refashion

I know this lady, I'll call her Isabelle.  She has a knack for finding owners for unloved and unwanted clothes.  Most people who have a bag of off cast clothing, say 'I've got a bag of stuff there if you want a look through'.  Isabelle however pulls out each item one by one and offers them to the person she thinks the item matches.  What I love about this is that I often end up with clothes I would have otherwise overlooked.

Like these fairly boring and very unflattering pants.

They had these weird zips on the sides that kind of looked like pockets... but weren't, and when zipped up they created a VERY unflattering silhouette.

Yep, these are possibly the most unflattering pants I've ever tried on.  But if Isabelle hadn't pulled them out and shown them to me, I never would have noticed this AWESOME print on the back of the legs. 

When I saw this print I knew that these pants had to become a dress, and that design had to be on the front. 

I didn't really have a for plan how exactly I was going to make these pants a dress, but I knew I needed to open up the inner leg seam.  And because I wanted to avoid or minimise the need to put inserts into the skirt part of the dress to make it wide enough, I needed to retain as much of the original fabric as possible.  So while I would usually just cut out a 'seam' (because 'unpicking' is a faff), in this case I actually unpicked the inside leg seam.

Then I tidied up all the 'unpicked' edges.

I turned the pants inside out and folded the pants in half and drew this line in chalk to sew along so the dress would sit better at what was about to become the back (the chalk line is drawn from just below the original zip).  I didn't sew all the way to the bottom of what was the legs, as I wanted a split at the back of the dress so that I would (hopefully) have enough movement to walk.

After I had sewn what was now the back of a dress I chopped out this little bit of extra fabric.

Then I turned the 'dress' in the right way and started fiddling around with how I wanted the front to sit.  When I was happy with how it looked, I pinned it together and sewed the two 'sides' together where you can see the pins in this picture.

Believe it or not, this was actually the dress almost completed, and this project went surprisingly smoothly.  It fit me really well without having to insert any extra fabric at the bottom, the length was where I liked it without having to alter the length, and the former waist line was almost a perfect fit for this as a strapless dress - but I don't really like strapless on me, so I'll sort that out in a bit.  So along with adding straps there were just a few little things that needed fiddling with to finish this dress off.

This side pocket was actually quite functional as it now sat just above my hip.  But the 'flap' bit stuck out at an odd angle, so I unpicked it and left the pocket in place.

These zips which made for such an unflattering shape in pants actually looked quite good running up the side of the 'bodice' of my dress.  They were just a bit gapey at the top, so I sewed this fabric flat for a cleaner finish under my arms.

I didn't take photos of how I added the straps because on my black dress form it was impossible to see.  But basically I got a long thin black 'sash' from a top in my refashion stash and had a play around until I got a strap configuration that I liked.

And this is how it looked when it was finished.

I tied a second thin black sash around my waist to create a bit of shape.

Luckily I'm a fan of the 'asymmetrical' (aka wonky) look, as it works well with my slapdash sewing style.

I'm quite liking those side zips, and its nice to have a pocket too.

I know they're not everyones cup of tea, but I'm loving my new'ish' Duckfeet sandals.   

Although I've never really been a head scarf wearing kind of girl, my hair is currently at a really awkward inbetween length that is unbearably hot on the back of my neck on hot days, and I've recently discovered that wearing a scarf is a comfy way to keep the hair off the back of my neck and off my forehead on hotter days - so I'm running with this look at the moment.

I think this could be my new favorite summer dress.

So now for the cost breakdown...

Dress: Hand-me-down $0, Scarf: Hand-me down from mum $0, Glasses: $12, Duckfeet Sandals: Cobblers at Byron $159

 (Yep, I blew the budget on the shoes here - but my wonderful husband got me a voucher for this shoe shop a few months back, after I complained about not being able to find any second hand Duckfeet boots anywhere in the world on eBay.  By the time I got around to redeeming the voucher, it was too hot for boots, so I got Duckfeet sandals instead).