Re-Purposed Sundress

"Mom, what should I do with this dress? It doesn't fit me anymore!" These words were from my daughter who was cleaning out her drawers and closet. Usually, she will pack away a few bags of clothes to give to her cousin, but THIS dress.....well, she couldn't part with it! She wore it a few times with a cute little white sweater and it looked very sweet on her. One look at it and I felt like Gru in Despicable Me. "Light bulb!" Doesn't it just look like it longs to be re-made into an apron? Well, it did to me. Rebekah agreed to that idea happily, knowing it would give her a chance to wear it over and over in the years to come. I took it to work with me and got right to...well, work!

I think this was one of the easiest projects I have ever done. I cut off the entire back of the dress, just inside the seams on the front. I opted to leave in the lining, to make it more absorbent for drying wet hands. I attached one big pocket, made by using a big piece of the back of the dress. A cute ruffle was made from the discarded back lining. Then I sewed a seam down the center to divide it into two pockets. To close the side seam, I turned the whole thing inside out and sewed the side seam including the pocket sides, with right sides together.

When the pocket and sides were done, I cut the length of the dress to a more appropriate apron length and hemmed it. Rebekah purchased a package of pink bias tape thinking it was ribbon knowing it would be stronger than ribbon, and I used it to create back ties.

White lining from the back of the dress was used to make a white ruffle for the top of the pockets.

There it is! I can't tell you how many times she has said, "Mom, I LOVE this apron!" (I'll post an actual picture of her wearing it soon.)