This is a dress I picked up while thrifting yesterday that I knew would be perfect for summer, with a few alterations. I removed the hideous puffy sleeves and cut the back out to give it more of a summer feel, allowing for plenty of breeze – it’s hot folks. I love the pretty floral pattern, and that it’s light cotton, because a light cotton dress is your best friend in the summertime. (sidenote: how cute is Olive’s dress?)
so sassy, 24-7.
So if you’re anything like me, you love hearts and adding them to anything and everything. I have put together three easy projects that take no time at all to make. If you also fall into this category of loving clothes with hearts, then you’ve probably seen those ADORABLE dresses for little ladies with the heart cut out in the back? Yeah, those! They are beyond amazing, but every time I see them they cost way more than I am willing to pay for a toddler’s dress, or my own dress for that matter. So of course, you know what I did. Yep, I DIY’d that dress right up!
HEART CUT OUT DRESS:
It was actually really easy to do. I already had a dress on hand in mind: a cute little floral that I had thrifted for Olive a while back. All I did to make the heart shape was grab the back of the dress’s fabric in the middle and fold it in half (like you would a piece of paper to cut out a heart shape). Then I took my scissors and cut a nice sized heart out of the back of the dress. You can cut the heart however big or small you want it to be. In hindsight, I may have cut the heart a little smaller, but hey, I am totally happy with the results. Then I just hemmed up around the edges so that they don’t fray. That’s it! How easy is that. Much easier than I initially thought it might be, because it just seems like it should be more complicated because of what stores are charging for these. But I guess you’re buying the cuteness/style. Well guess what, I paid like 10 cents for mine. That’s right. Look at that child.
HEART SHIRT:
I also took a little dress I had sewn Olive last year that had grown to tight and cut it into a shirt a sewed a little heart on it too. Like I said, I love hearts. This is also a super easy way to add a little pop to a piece of clothing. Just cut a heart out of your fabric of choice and sew it onto your shirt, dress, pants, bag, whatever you choose.
LACE HEART SHIRT:
For the last project, I used a plain red dress-turned-shirt of Olive’s. I followed the same pattern as the cut out dress, and gathered the back material of the shirt from the middle. Then cut out the heart shape just like with the dress. Next I took some scrap lace I had laying around and pinned it to the inside back of the shirt, right over the heart. Then I sewed around the outside edges of the heart until I had gone all the way around. Then just trim the excess lace from the shirt. Now you have that cute cut out heart back, with delicate lace detail. Adorable. I love it. I am making one for me for sure.
(I love all her little poses. She’s been watching mommy too long)
As you know, one of my favorite things to do is refashion clothes. It’s one of my specialties. This afternoon, I decided to take care of a dress that’s been sitting on my sewing cart for at least two months. My husband picked it up for me one day when he was out thrifting because he knew that I could do something with it. It might have taken me a few months to get to it babe, but I did something with it!
When I refashion clothes, there are basically six steps that I always use (except for maybe a few cases where a step or two might not be necessary). I typically trim the sleeves, trim the hemline, take in the sides (unless it already fits) and trim away the excess. Although tailoring an article of clothing to your liking may seem intimidating, I promise it’s really not at all. All you need are basic sewing skills and know what you want it to look like. I never follow any kind of pattern, I just look at the piece of clothing and know what it should look like. It doesn’t take long either, once you’ve gotten some practice and could practically do it in your sleep. This dress took me about 15 minutes to alter.
Before:
Redbird Brownbird 