A ripped dress- darn it!

I had so much fun recently changing a pair of ripped jeans into a skirt but regretted my rushed hem which was crooked and wasn't double folded over.  Well, I thought that it was time to start learning how to mend properly as I always seem to have some favourite dress or top to fix in my cupboard.  I bought a lovely little book called "Mend it Better" which is very useful and helped me have the confidence to do a couple of those cupboard jobs!  First, that skirt.  You see, the hem started to fray and drip down messy threads.  Along with the uneven hem, it was looking pretty naff, so I decided to re hem it.  It didn't take long to realise that I needed to cut away the old hem and would end up with a mini skirt (not a good look for my daughter just yet...).  So, out came a saved ripped dress from KJ's super cousin and, "Ta Da!", we now have a gorgeous long and colourful skirt.  That £1 pair of jeans is on it's third regeneration and I look forward to seeing just how many more changes one piece of clothing can go through.

But that's not all- oh no- I also rescued HB's dress!  This was recently found in the loft as a hand-me-down from another cousin.  It was promptly announced as, "My favourite, Mummy" but when Madam turned around I discovered two great big holes in the back! (I mean, how could her Auntie have missed those??)  So, I promised I would try, and used my fab book to snip the frayed edges, stretch onto an embroidery hoop, whipstitch to prevent fraying and then have lots of fun cutting tiny patch flowers to applique over the holes.  I added extra flowers to the front so that the back repair looked intentional and HB wore her dress all holiday!  Now, the bow has fallen off I see (HB is wearing the dress as I type)- seriously, this dress is a pain in the neck...but she loves it so I forgive it.

 
 

1- Ripped Dress

2- Neatened holes and whipstitching

3- Starting to patch.

4- Front and back fixed sun dress!