Refashion: Skirt and Blouse to Ilsley Dress

I do love a bit of charity shop shopping but I haven't seen anything (clothes or fabric wise) for a while until I went to my local fantastic shop and bought three things for £5 with the intention of refashioning them all, so this is the first of, hopefully, three posts with refashions in!

This started out life as a blouse and elasticated skirt combo made from viscose.  I like the colours and the print and could see that there was enough fabric to do something with.  I am off on my hols soon and need a beach cover up style dress so that was where I started.

Marilla has just released a free pattern so I thought I would combine two ideas and use that for the skirt portion of the dress.  In hindsight I think I should have left the pockets out because the fabric is extremely soft and drapey and I am not 100% convinced that they work but they are there and will probably prove invaluable in a beach dress!  As usual for all of Marilla's patterns, the skirt was brilliantly drafted and is finished really nicely, although I confess to skipping the french seamed pockets and just used my overlocker!  I really love the shaped hem and can't wait to make the skirt again "properly".

For the top portion, I started by checking the bust darts which were roughly at the right height, but the whole blouse was much too wide.  I took the sleeves off and the sides in, using french seams to keep it looking the same as the skirt, but then realised I had baggy underarms!  I seamed together the lower section of the armhole opening which made the blouse slightly too narrow across the front, so this is now stitched closed to prevent gaping.  The armholes are finished in bias binding and with the side french seams the insides look nice and neat.

To attach the top to the skirt I simply ran a line of gathering stitches along the top of the skirt, sewed the two together, overlocked the seam and then zigzagged some elastic onto the seam allowance for shaping.  I had toyed with the idea of adding a waistband section but I didn't want to overcomplicate things and really I just wanted a simple pull-on dress, which is what I've ended up with!

I am really happy with my charity shop purchase.  It cost me £2 to buy, I used very little other materials to change it (some elastic, thread and bias binding) and I now have a wearable dress out of recycled fabric.  That makes me very pleased!  I am midway through my next refashion so hopefully I can get some pics of that very soon.