The Cozy Colour Blocked Upsized Dress Refashion

I recently inherited a fabulous pile of closet cast-offs:

Hearing “Do you want this?” is just one of the many perks of refashioning!

I dove right in, snagged these beauties & immediately had a bolt of inspiration:

A dull knit dress with a weird center seam & a shrunken wool top transformed into:

The Cozy Colour Blocked Upsized Dress Refashion!

Here’s how I did it:

I chopped the dress in half under that bizarre seam.

Cut off the sleeves leaving the bulky seam behind.

Sliced off the cowl neck once again leaving the bulky seam behind.

Snagged the shrunken top & put my plan in place.

Then chopped off the sleeves of the top this time including the bulky seam in my cutting.

Quick tip: As long as the fabric has some stretch to it, a too-tight-on-the-chest-top can be loosened and upsized by removing the original sleeve seams & either stitching the original sleeves back on, replacing the sleeves with an equally stretchy fabric or simply hemming the raw edges and creating a sleeveless top.

I popped the chopped dress sleeves into the top armholes with right sides facing & raw edges lined up

& zigzagged them together.

Then evened up that cowl neck,

and popped it into the top neckline with the wrong side of the cowl facing the right side of the top (this will ensure that when worn the cowl neck will fold down with the correct side facing out)

and stitched them together.

Et voila! A new top that is no longer too tight!

I could have left it as a top but I wanted a cozy new frock so I flipped the top over the chopped bottom of the dress with right sides facing and edges lined up and zigzagged them together.

And finally zigzagged over all of the outside seams to prevent fraying + add a bit extra detail.

Are you digging that cozy new dress as much as I am?