Tuesday, March 21, 2017

PRP: Boho Chic

This week's Project Run and Play theme is Boho Chic. 



Boho chic is not  normally a look that I'm drawn to, although I do enjoy seeing other people pull off this style. I just don't feel that it fits me very well personally. I honestly wasn't sure if I would participate this week, but what I love the most about Project Run ad Play is the challenge, so I kept thinking about what I might make this week.

Finally I remembered this maxi skirt that I had tucked away in my closet. 



It's a flowy, tiered with gathers, woven maxi skirt that I bought back in college. I love the skirt, but I rarely wore it because it was only held up by a drawstring, which didn't do a good job. Let's just say pulling it up all the time was a pain.

The print of the skirt has a boho vibe and so does the light airiness of the fabric. I cut it up to make an off the shoulder flowy dress for my daughter Eve. I used almost every square inch of the skirt and am thrilled with how it turned out!

I used the Daphne pattern by Made for Mermaids (affiliate link). The only difference I made was keeping the gathered tiers of the original skirt, so the shape is a little different than if I would have used the pattern exactly. I did trim down the side seams, cutting it out with the pattern, but because it has all those gathers, it is fuller than the original pattern. 


I kept the hem on the skirt, which had a tiny lace hem. 


To match the hem, I took some white lace trim, dyed it with strong tea and used it on the hem of the bodice flounce.


The two lace hems ended up matching pretty well!

The dying process was very simple. The lace trim started out white:


Then it went into a very strong batch of tea for an hour or two.


And tada! Out it came, almost the exact same color as the original trim of the skirt:


Back to the rest of the dress construction...

Because the fabric is so lightweight, it is a bit see through in the light. The original skirt had a lining that didn't go quite to my knees. I cut that lining out and sewed it to the seam allowance of the highest gathered tier. Because it's on the seam allowance on the inside, there is no stitching visible on the outside of the dress. With the lining, it's no longer see through.

Here is Eve showing off the lining and where it is attached to the inside of the dress.


One thing I really like about this style is that it can be worn two ways. Eve can wear it off the shoulders:


Or she can pull it up over her shoulders, whatever she is more comfortable with. It just looks like a curved neckline this way. 


She prefers the off the shoulder look though. 



Her older sister, Kylie, also loves this dress and has begged for me to make her a dress with this pattern soon. While I may not be drawn to wearing this style, my daughters certainly are. I am happy making them clothes they love, so I will definitely use this pattern again. 





12 comments:

  1. Lovely dress! Great job up-cycling your skirt!
    I can't pull off the look either, but Boho chic is so cute on little girls!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, I think the look is beautiful on other people, just not me. :)

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  2. This fits the theme perfectly!!! Great job dyeing the lace, too!

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  3. Beautiful dress! Congratulations on the win!

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  4. I loved this dress too; not surprised it won! :) Can you please share which part of the original skirt you used for the top flounce? I would love to upcycle a women's skirt like this too. It looks like you used all the height of the original skirt for the dress, so did you cut the flounce out sideways from the side of the skirt you cut off? Or maybe piece it in another way? Thanks for any help. Sincerely, Natalia

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    1. Thanks Natalia! The flounce is actually the top part of the original skirt. Once I cut into it and removed the drawstring and gathers, it was just the perfect length for the top flounce. I then cut out the dress part after I cut the flounce off. I can take a picture and explain better, but I can't put a picture in the comments so I will edit my original blog post with a picture if that helps you. My brain is too tired tonight though so I will edit my post tomorrow. :)

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    2. Sorry I'm late in seeing this...somehow the notification thing didn't seem to work...Well that is so perfect that it worked out that way! I thought it had already used all the height of the skirt but this way you could probably even use the drawstring channel for the elastic, right? I really hope I can find a drawstring maxi-skirt soon and do this for my 8 year old. Thank you so much for the reply!

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  5. Please email me so I can get you your prize! Thanks... skirtfixation@gmail.com

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