Navy Blue Band Skirt

Both of my little sisters were in middle school band (as was I, but I went to a different middle school) and so both of them ended up with the same ridiculous elastic-waist, floor-length or longer heavy navy skirt that looks completely frumpy when paired with the required button down white shirt and bow tie. And since they both ended up with those skirts, that means I ended up with those skirts!

Considering the color and the weight of the fabric, I decided that a strapless dress was the ideal thing to do with at least one of the skirts. The blue is kind of nautical, and paired with a white hat and the appropriate jewelry it makes a really cute summery outfit!

you can't really see my contrapposto from this angle

This is actually an older refashion - I've had the skirt in question for a while and wore it - several times - as a strapless dress with the embroidered ribbon trim simply wrapped around it before finally getting down to work and sewing everything together.

The process was straightforward, just time consuming. I cut off the elastic and took in the top of the dress to settle snugly around my chest, then installed a zipper in the back. The next thing was to sew the embroidered trim to the dress, which I did by hand since I didn't want the machine catching the embroidery thread. I put one layer around the top of the dress and one just beneath the bust line, which created the line I wanted while also catching the weight of the fabric and helping it not fall off my body.

I'm gonna wear this for my cousin's wedding this weekend with a really cute pair of blue heels, so I'm excited about this dress!

I'm thinking I'll make the second skirt into a short, flowy skirt and keep the elastic waistband, and then use what I cut off to make either a romper or a pencil skirt. Thoughts?

Reduce, Reuse, Refashion?

I have been a long time fan of vintage and thrifted clothing, and I've finally decided to use this blog for its intended purpose. Inspired by Jillian of Refashionista (I went through 75 pages of her blog in three days - oops) and Solanah of Vintage-Vixen (my longtime fashion crush), I proudly present Jane of All Styles!

I'm starting with a refashion, since I've had this dress tucked away in my closet for a while and wanted to make good on the potential I saw when I first bought it.

Please forgive my lazy photo editing...

Not long enough, boring cut - ah yes, it's the classic of my childhood wardrobe.

So! This started off as a plain 90's frock - a bias cut crinkle chiffon over a slip that had no interest aside from the floral pattern. I cut the slip to about mid-thigh, then cut a semi-circle out out the front and attached it to the back of the dress for the high-low effect that's been so popular recently. I also ripped the sleeves off.

There were two triangles of fabric that had been incorporated into the dress because of it's bias-cut construction, and those I saved and stitched along the collar to add a little sailor-outfit interest (I've been watching a lot of Sailor Moon).

To finish, I added lace (a lucky find from my local thriftstore a while ago) to the entire hem, and the bottom edge of the sailor collar, and then finished the arm holes with elastic lingerie lace (which came from one of the numerous sewing collections my house has inherited from various dead great-aunts and grandmothers).

I'm pretty happy with it! Except the back hem does touch the ground if I'm not wearing heels, but the first time I wore it out I ripped the lace with said heels... It was an easy fix, but I'm going to have to be more careful with this dress in the future, haha.