Making a dress from overall's.
So the leggy Miss is growing and growing. I can't keep up and neither can her pant legs. The overalls were too short in the leg but still roomy around her torso so we decided to make a dress out of them.
As for the pant leg leftover's we have some future ideas for those too. Here's a quick tutorial to show you how. You don't need a pattern, just some basic sewing skills.
So let's get started.
You'll need:
* Overall's / Coverall's
* Fabric 110cm wide (about 110cm long)
* Quick unpick
* Scissors
* Sewing Machine
* Thread (I used dark blue and cream)
* Tailor's chalk or a pen
Optional
* Buttons to replace denim studs OR
* Covered button kit to replace denim studs
This tutorial is a guide to make a pair of overall's into a dress. If you need some extra help or some more info if I didn't explain it very well, then please contact me and I'll do my best to help you out.
1. First work out where the waist of your overalls sit on the kid. Mark this with the chalk or pen and then cut leaving a seam allowance. I use 1.5cm seam allowance.
2. Unpick the belt carriers and if you care to unpick the bottom seam at the front to reduce bulk when sewing your skirt on. This isn't necessary but it will make it easier to sew and give you a cleaner finish.
3. Measure the length you want your skirt to be (mine is 50cm) and cut two lengths.
4. Sew a gather stitch across the top of both pieces. A gather stitch is a wide length stitch which allows you to pull the thread on the ends and gather or ruffle the fabric. Make sure the gather stitch is closer to the raw edge than your seam allowance. I usually make mine about 1cm.
5. Pull one of the threads on one side of the fabric to gather the fabric. Attach one piece to the front of your overall's bib. Adjust the gathers to fit evenly.
6. I'm stitching on top with dark blue thread so I can make sure I stitch in the channels left from the old thread. The back doesn't really matter (here is the back with the cream thread)
7. Double check your seam allowance for the back of the overall's. I have left a 1.5cm seam allowance and have made sure my button holes matched up so the skirt would too.
8. Gather the skirt panel and attach it to the back of the overalls. Then finish this edge with an overlocker/serger or a zig zag stitch.
9. Line up your skirt panels, when you're happy they match up then stitch them together leaving a gap of about 5cm at the top nearest the overall's bib. This will allow extra room when putting the dress on. I didn't worry about finishing the edges of the skirt itself as it is the selvedge edge and wont fray.
10. Starting from the front just beneath the overall's bib at the side of the skirt, stitch the side seam down and across the seam join and up to the back of the skirt panel. Keep stitching a top stitch across the back of the skirt (this will keep the denim from sticking up and making the skirt look unruly!) and then repeat the other side finishing just below the bib of the overall's.
11. Hem the dress. I just did a double fold narrow hem.
12. Now your dress can be considered finished! I removed all the old denim studs and zig zag stitched the holes so I could add my own buttons.
13. Attach your new buttons.
14. Wear!
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