Crafty Little Kitty: From Granny's Nightie to a Sweet Spring Dress

Let us begin with this fancy vintage find that I will call: Betsy. "Well hello Betsy- I bet you were pretty sexy back in 1978. With you awkward length that cuts of just above the ankles and your amazing lack of a waist that makes soooo many ladies look soooo fine." Oh wow- I just turned into Leon Phelps from "The Ladies Man" (SNL spin off movie circa 2000). 1970's granny nighties can have that effect sometimes...shall we continue?

The lace detail up top was wonderful and the color was simply charming- so I had visions of turning granny's mistake into a charming spring dress. Step 1: Cut it off at the waist. I used my beloved rotary cutter- but good old fashioned sewing scissors will do just fine :)

I thought the bottom half would have more OOMPH if I turned the whole thing on it's side. This also ended up creating a really great asymmetrical look as well.

So I cut off the seams so I could do my magical reconstructing. Next step is to pin it together- I left a little slit in the side (see final dress photos)

The next part is a little tricky because the fabric on the bottom is longer than the fabric on the top. I match up the side seams and then mark the center of the front top & bottom and back top & bottom. Then pin them all together and stretch and pin, stretch and pin...

The final work comes when you sew it all together- make sure that you are stretching the fabric to keep it all lined up and avoid puckering. Then- it's all sewn together!! Yay!!!

almost there! now we must create the space for the elastic to go. I used 1/2 inch braided elastic for this one- so I made the seam about 2/3 of an inch wide. Sew all the way around leaving a 1/2 inch space open to put the elastic through.

Measure the elastic the length you need the waist to be (mine was about 28 inches) Then attach a good old fashioned safety pin and rock it out til you thread the elastic through.