Flowery Eighties Dress Makeover

The first dress in what may or may not become a series of eighties clothes refashions is boldly patterned, loose-fitting, floral dress. I figured I'd start out pretty simple, and since I'd never wear that dress in its entirety, I went for a shirt and skirt refashioning combo.

Close ups of the dress.

The crop top was pretty simple to make. I simply cut the skirt from the bodice (no hemming necessary since the bottom edge was already finished) and took the sides in a bit for a more fitted look. I would've made it a little tighter, but since the material isn't stretchy and I didn't want to bother with adding a zipper or buttons, I kept it loose fitting.

The skirt on the other hand took a bit more effort. I wanted to keep the original pockets, so instead of cutting the side seams to make the skirt smaller, I cut down the middle instead. I also used a skirt I got from Target that I like the fit of for reference during the process.

I cut fabric from the top and bottom to get the length I wanted, hemmed the bottom edge, and used the leftover fabric to create the waistband. I went with a partial elastic waistband in the back so I wouldn't have to use as much.