This one was really simple. I loved the Ace & Jig boardwalk dress when it first came out, but the price tag wasn’t so friendly. The cut seemed easy enough to recreate, so I was just going to make one. Well, I stumbled upon this long dress at the thrift store and the cut reminded me of the Ace & Jig dress and it even had a little gingham pattern going on. For $2 I made the dress mine, chopped off the length, sewed it up, and there you have it. I debate dying the color to something fun like red or navy, but I also like it just the way it is. It’s seriously my go-to dress. I didn’t even adjust width or anything. It’s just a nice loose dress for our hot, summer days (and oh it’s been so hot around here lately!). You can see me wearing the dress in a couple pictures this post.
I snagged this long jumper-ish dress at the thrift store too! I loved the linen fabric (my fave!) and knew it could turn into something wonderful. I had originally intended to recreate this dress, but went with something like this dress instead (they’re quite similar). The Ace & Jig dress was just a little too frumpy and bag-like (at least that’s what it looked like on the model) so I made the dress fit my body a little bit more.
You can see how I got my pieces for the dress. I got the top portion of the dress by cutting out the stripes horizontal from the bottom portion of the original dress. Then I got the vertical stripes for the bottom of the new dress from the top portion of the original dress. I pretty much used every square inch of that dress to make the new one. This dress can be seen worn in this post (our visit to the fair).
Both dresses probably took me no longer than an hour to make because the styles were so easy. Finding an old dress for cheap at the thrift store and reworking it is so much better than spending money lots of money on a dress. I have an Ace & Jig dress I bought on sale for $30 at Anthro and while the fabric is amazing, I don’t think I could spend a lot of money on a dress style that I could sew myself. That’s just me though. Shoes on the other hand, I can’t make those. Shoes are my weakness…
p.s. my necklaces are from shop miguez.
These are awesome, you are so talented! I often thrift clothes to alter in a similar manner but mine end up gathering dust next to my sewing machine or turn out a little odd, so I’m very impressed, these look great!
Don’t worry, I’ve got a little pile that I keep meaning to get to too!
You make sewing and altering clothes seem so approachable and non intimidating. Thank you!!
If you know how to sew a straight line, you can sew anything! Really!
That’s such a great idea! I feel so inspired!
this is great!
You are amazing!!! I feel inspired to upcycle something for myself now.
Hi, I love your sense of upcycling clothes… I’m thinking to sew a bag for my daugther from an very old jacket… Let’s see what I make 🙂
You can do it! You will feel so satisfied and proud when you’re done!
Lovely ideas! you really upcycled those dresses!
I love these dresses and your creativity with reworking thrift finds!
I just found your blog. What a lovely family you have! I also chuckled because in a few of the posts, I swear we are wearing the same uniform. I have a blue dress like this, which I had made when I was in Cambodia because I couldn’t justify the Ace & Jig price tags.
i’ve been doing this a few times, purchasing $5 thrifted dresses that are oversize, but LOVE the fabric/pattern then refashioning it! Though, i’ve been bad about documenting them! I’ve been wanting to learn about how to sew the necklines (and zippers).
Thanks for sharing!