My "Orange" Dress Makeover

So, not too long ago I tried to dye a dress orange. You remember that, right? If not, you can see that adventure here. Just as a refresher...the white dress turned pink. 

Not only was it pink...but it still wasn't flattering and still was quite see through. This bum did not fit in the coverage zone of that tiny built in slip you see there. 

So having only spent $11 on the dress and $9 on dye that didn't work, I decided to take it apart and see if I could remake it into something wearable. And if not, I was only out $20. More than I wanted to be out, but at least it wasn't an expensive dress I was getting set to experiment on! 

So I sat down with my seam ripper and separated it all out. Took the zipper out, separated the skirt from the bodice, and took the lining off the bodice. 

I thought this would be pretty simple. I stitched the edges of the bodice, tucked the back a little and turned it into a jacket. Easy! And then it was time for the skirt. It went fast. I added a back to the waist band and reattached the zipper. And I thought I was done! 

Cameron came home, I put it all on to show him my handiwork, and the skirt wasn't pretty. It lumped funny in back where the zipper was, the waist band folded in on itself, and it made my hips look wider than they already are post 2 kids. And then the weird slip inside still looked weird even with me wearing another slip beneath it. It just wasn't going to cut it. 

So out came the seam ripper again. Off came the zipper. Off came the waist band. Off came the built in slip completely. And off to Walmart I went (because on a Saturday evening, that was my option unless I wanted to drive an hour to the real fabric store). 

I found some decent quality white knit, bought 3 yards of it and some elastic, and headed back home to experiment some more. 

I should have taken step by step pictures, but I wasn't sure this was even going to work and by the time I got sewing it was 10 at night. I just wanted to get it done! But basically I split the knit fabric in two and sewed each section into a tube. I slipped one knit tube in the other, and then put the skirt fabric tube in the center and sewed them all together at the top and turned it right side out. From there I added the elastic, sewed a casing for it, and then hemmed the layers. Voila...a makeshift maxi skirt that was no longer see through! 

It isn't the most beautiful skirt ever, but it is miles better than what the dress was and now I can actually wear it! It was perfect for my Easter outfit yesterday! 

But...there is a Pinstrosity involved...

Apparently even though it'd been rinsed twice, not all the dye was out of the seams in the jacket. My nice new-to-me white shirt I just got at Savers now has a coral stripe around each arm. Awesome.